The Delhi Capitals embark upon a new journey in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season under the leadership of Axar Patel. The departure of local boy Rishabh Pant has posed the franchise with some new challenges ahead of the new campaign, though the bosses are hopeful to have bridged some gaps by roping in experienced wicket-keeper batter KL Rahul in the auction. Delhi, who remain one of the few franchises to have not won an IPL title yet, enter the new season on the back of a fundamental change that sees many fresh faces in the team, as well as in the backroom staff.
Strengths: Top-order batting remains Delhi Capitals’ strength for the 2025 campaign. The likes of Jake Fraser-McGurk, Faf du Plessis, and KL Rahul are expected to form a potent trio at the top of the batting order. File Fraser-McGurk has already shown the firepower he holds with the bat last season, the arrival of Du Plessis and Rahul would add the required stability to the team’s batting at the top that they lacked last season.
Weakness: One of Delhi’s biggest concerns heading into the new season lies in the leadership group. Axar Patel hasn’t yet led any franchise on a full-time basis in the IPL. He is a relatively inexperienced name on the roster. But, the franchise’s decision to name Faf du Plessis the vice-captain does bring some promise to the team. With KL Rahul deciding to step away from any leadership role, the situation does put DC in a spot of bother.
Opportunity: While top-order remains Delhi’s biggest strength, the middle-order is where games will be won or lost for Delhi. The likes of Ashutosh Sharma, Abhishek Porel are inexperienced but have plenty of hunger to prove themselves. With Axar Patel and Tristan Stubbs also occupying different roles in the middle-order, Delhi can go on to create one of the most fearsome middle-orders of IPL 2025 if the young guns go on to fire.
Threat: Harry Brook’s late pull-out has left the franchise’s management in the doldrums. Brook’s addition to the roster gave Delhi a sort of completeness but that no longer exists. While the management is working on bringing the balance back to the team with a replacement signing, there does remain the threat of an imbalance in the side, with Brook pulling out just days before the start of the new campaign.
DC Strongest Playing XI: Jake Fraser-McGurk, KL Rahul, Faf du Plessis, Abishek Porel (wk), Axar Patel (c), Tristan Stubbs, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Mohit Sharma, T Natarajan.
Impact Players: Ashutosh Sharma, Karun Nair
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