The all-rounder Axar Patel who led Delhi Capitals to five wins in 6 IPL 2025 games, has opened up on his philosophy over captaincy saying that has found the right people to do the right jobs for him in crunch situations.
Delhi Capitals are one of the OG franchises that haven’t won an IPL title and have made it to the final only once. However, after playing six games, the team is sitting comfortably at the top of the IPL 2025 points table with five wins.
Delhi Capitals secured a thrilling victory in the IPL 2025 game against Rajasthan Royals after the home side scored 188 runs in their 20 overs. In the Super over Delhi scored 13 runs and successfully defended the runs and secured the win.
After the Super Over win against Rajasthan Royals, Axar Patel said that the success is down to ‘trusting my instincts’.
“As a captain, you need to enjoy the responsibility. That’s why I took up the role,” said Axar at the post-match press conference after the DC-RR clash.
“I was doing all this for State cricket. So, I know what to do and what not to do. When you get a chance to run the team according to your standards, and play the way you want to play cricket, if you get a chance, why to let it go? I’m enjoying both on and off the field. I’m enjoying it.”
India had number of successful captains over the years. While MS Dhoni relies on instinct and games conditions, Virat Kohli has been about creating an aggressive team atmosphere while Rohit Sharma has often stressed on intent as well as matchups.
Despite Axar Patel has long way to take him to captaincy. The 31 year old is known to speak his mind and is willing to experiment as captain, well aware that not all days will be sweet for him.
“I’m doing whatever I feel is right and backing myself. It’s not like I will listen to lots of opinions, yes I do listen to suggestions but ultimately, I have to make the decisions. It’s important for me to back myself, so that I can learn from the mistakes whenever something goes wrong. I’m enjoying (the challenge of captaincy).”
For all the chants at the Qila Kotla 💙❤️ pic.twitter.com/w3c1msVSqp
— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) April 17, 2025
After the mega auction, KL Rahul was touted to be DC’s captain, given that the Karnataka batter had been in the role since his move to Punjab Kings. However, he turned down the leadership role aiming to renew his T20 career.
“I think they can tell from my face whether their captain is angry or if he’s a little serious.” says Axar while breaking into a smile.”Obviously, it’s a thin line. As a captain, I have to take care of the team and the atmosphere.”
“But at the same time, it shouldn’t appear like I’m taking it lightly. It shouldn’t be like, the captain is joking around. But I’ve drawn that line. I’ve told them that they can do what they want as long as the job is executed well on the field,” added Axar Patel.
“Until the job isn’t done, there shouldn’t be any lazing around. I know that I have to maintain the atmosphere but also be serious at the same time.
“I think the key is to enjoy your cricket. I feel that you play your best cricket when you are enjoying the game. So, that’s what I’m striving for.”
Axar Patel has explained how DC approached their bowling innings in a different way to their RR counterparts.
For a large part of DC’s innings, the surface appeared to have a bit of hold in it, which meant that the slower balls did stick on the surface.
However, as the game went on, the track eased out and dew then allowed batters to deal with the slower balls a lot better than in the first innings.
“The way the wicket went in the first inning, it looked like the ball was getting stuck. The slower bouncer was getting stuck on the pitch and it was not that easy to hit them. But when we came to bowl, I saw that our bowler were not looking that effective with this tactic. It wasn’t holding as much onto the pitch.”
“So, then I changed my plan. And I brought Mohit for the 19th over because he had been doing this role well for Gujarat for the last two years. So, I knew what he could do in the death overs.”
“Mukesh wasn’t having a good outing, so I thought of holding him back. And then with Starc’s two overs at the death with right-left combination, I was confident he could beat the batters with pace.”
“He has a good yorker, good slower bouncer and all that. The idea was to mix things up but when we got Nitish’s wicket (with a perfect yorker), I felt that we shouldn’t think too much (and stick to yorkers),” concluded Axar Patel.
Delhi Capitals will play their next match against Gujarat Titans on April 19 at Narendra Modi Stadium.
