In any field, the best leaders are those who bring out the best in their team members. That’s a leader’s biggest KPI (Key Performance Indicator) — in corporate speak. Everything else is secondary. And Delhi Capitals captain Axar Patel has failed in that. He is a solid player in all three aspects of the game; however, in the most important aspect, he has come a cropper. There are not many teams that can lose an IPL contest even after scoring 264 runs. But a team like Delhi Capitals, where nothing has been been in order from day one, certainly can.
Axar has to take responsibility. Just playing the good guy is not going to work. Match after match, they have been dropping catches and missing run-outs. He and fielding coach John Mooney should be called to account for that. Against CSK, Sanju Samson and Ayush Mhatre were dropped by Pathum Nissanka and David Miller. Against SRH, KL Rahul missed an easy run-out of Abhishek Sharma. At that time, Sharma was on 49, and he went on to score 135 not out. Rahul, well protected by the wicketkeeping gloves, had missed an easy run-out of Mhatre against CSK too.
Also Read: CSK loss proves there is no accountability at Delhi Capitals; fearing the worst, fans left heartbroken
On Saturday evening, there were many chances that came their way, but four in particular were damning. Lungi Ndigi made a meal of a standard catch at this level, and also injured himself badly in the process. Mukesh Kumar took the catch but touched the rope. It was an easy catch, and how he managed to make it an ugly effort, only he knows. Bad karma then came to haunt Karun Nair. After he took a simple catch from the bat of Nehal Wadhera at long-on, he preened himself big time. Not long after, he dropped two sitters off the bat of Shreyas Iyer.
Why the team is going from bad to worse with their fielding, Axar has to explain. Indians understand cricket very well. They know why a team is winning and why another is losing. So, just saying — as he did after the match — that DC didn’t deserve to win because of their fielding as well as bowling, particularly in the powerplay, is not going to cut it.
Worst in Axar-era?
One can be a little lenient in assessment if the franchise has done well in the past. Like, bad seasons happen now and then. But in the case of DC, they have largely been poor. In 18 previous seasons, they have played just one final and that too they lost.
In the pre-Axar era, at least they looked serious, and as a DC fan, one had some secret hopes. Not anymore, last year as well as this year, they are one of the few teams you can bet your bottom rupee on that no way they can win the trophy and that just reaching the playoffs should be considered success for them.
Last year, after winning their first four matches, they failed to qualify for the play-offs. In the long history of the league, they are the only such example. They have no company to keep.
Axar has proved he can contribute with the bat and ball — the role he plays for Team India — but as far as leading a team is concerned, he doesn’t seem cut out for that. He is a nice person for sure — as he showed in a pre-season press conference in Delhi, first by taking all kinds of questions from the media and later by agreeing to selfies — but if the team doesn’t do well in the field of play, sorry to say, all that counts for nothing.
Axar hasn’t performed much with the bat either this season — 0, 2, 1, 26* and 2 — and that has now got him fewer sympathisers. Another KPI compromised! At this rate, he won’t be captain for long. However, he is safe as far as IPL 2026 is concerned. At present, there isn’t a single player in the team who can guarantee that they can do a better job.