All-rounder Axar Patel will lead the Delhi Capitals in their next tie against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. This comes after skipper Rishabh Pant was handed a one-match suspension and a fine for maintaining slow-over rate against Rajasthan Royals. DC will square off against RCB on Sunday in a do or die match that will determine their qualification to the IPL 2024 playoffs.
Axar Patel to captain DC vs RCB
As per Cricbuzz, Axar Patel will lead the side in the absence of Rishabh Pant. Despite knowing that he’d be banned and fined Rs 30 lakh for a third offense, Pant failed to finish their 20 allotted overs in 1 hour and 30 minutes. He tried to appeal the decision but was rejected. Now, the Delhi Capitals are hanging by a thread. A single loss would mean that they are virtually out of IPL 2024.
“He (Axar) has been Vice-Captain at this franchise for the last couple of seasons. A very experienced IPL player, an experienced international player, a sensible guy, understands the game really well. He’s excited about it. We started talking about it a couple of days ago when there was a possibility that Rishabh might be banned,” head coach Ricky Ponting said.
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Pant has scored 413 runs for DC so far in IPL 2024. He has 14 dismissals to his name in IPL 2024 and is behind just KL Rahul (16). Despite his injury concerns, he has the most stumpings (3), and with MS Dhoni suffering from a muscle tear, he’s easily the best keeper in the competition.
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