Indian all-rounder Axar Patel was appointed as Delhi Capitals (DC) captain ahead of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) season.
The spin bowling all-rounder will have a key task ahead of him to not only fill up former skipper Rishabh Pant's gigantic shoes but also guide the team to their first-ever title.
The 31-year-old initially joined the Capitals in 2019 and has since emerged as one of the top-performing players for the franchise across the six seasons with his ability to step up to the occasion.
In the 82 matches he has donned the red and blue of the Capitals, Patel has scored 967 runs and picked up 62 wickets at an impressive economy of 7.09.
Apart from being a live wire on the field, the all-rounder has also developed a special rapport with the Capitals' and the Indian national team's fans. He is also a T20 World Cup 2024, and ICC Champions Trophy 2025 winner with Team India and has played a crucial role with both bat and ball in these triumphs.
Axar has enough captaincy experience across formats, although with fair success.
In IPL 2024, Axar had led the side once against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the absence of Pant, who was serving a slow over-rate suspension.
DC lost that match by 47 runs. Axar took 0/24 and scored a quickfire 57 in 39 balls in a 188-run chase.
Before that his captaincy experience is mostly at domestic and junior level cricket.
The all-rounder has captained Gujarat's under-19 cricket team 13 times from October 2012 to January 2013, including in the Vinoo Mankad Trophy and Cooch Behar Trophy.
In the 2012-13 Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Inter-Zonal tournament, he led West Zone U19s to the title after four wins in four matches. He scored 98 runs and took seven wickets in the competition.
His first experience as captain on the senior level came during the Vijay Hazare Trophy in December 2015 in 50-over cricket. In 10 overs against Karnataka for Gujarat, he took 2/33, but his side lost the game.
He had by then already played two IPL seasons with Punjab Kings and played both ODIs and T20Is for India.
He also captained Gujarat in two Ranji Trophy matches in 2016-17 before leading them in the 2017-18 and 2020-21 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy seasons. However, these experiences were not the most pleasant ones as both times his team made group stage exits.
He also led Gujarat in last year's Syed Ali Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Despite winning six out of their seven matches, luck was not in his side as the better net run rate pushed Baroda and Saurashtra ahead.
In all, Axar has led in 24 matches across all formats, winning 12, losing 10 and two matches ended in a draw. Out of 17 matches he has captained in T20s, Axar has won 10 and lost seven.
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