Capitals have shocked fans with a dramatic post featuring KL Rahul, hinting at a change in leadership.
After failing to acquire both Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant at the 2025 mega auction, the Delhi-based franchise handed over the captaincy to Axar Patel and they had a great start under the Indian all-rounder. However, DC’s IPL 2025 campaign fell off the rails in the second phase.
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Delhi Capitals spark captaincy storm with dramatic KL Rahul post
After narrowly missing out on the play-offs last season, the change in captaincy is well on the cards for the Delhi Capitals. The franchise shared a video on X (formerly Twitter), starring KL Rahul, which took social media by storm.
This clip started with Rahul’s jersey and went on to include various moments from training sessions to photoshoots and interactions with the fans.
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However, it was DC’s caption that shows in many ways as they wrote, “Photo abhi baaki hai, Dilliwalon 🎬💙.” This left many wondering if the Capitals are ready to appoint Rahul as their new captain after the retentions were announced for the upcoming IPL 2026.
Photo still pending, Dilliwalon 🎬💙 pic.twitter.com/r8Sb4gCx1o
— Capitals of Delhi (@DelhiCapitals) November 15, 2025
KL Rahul reveals that IPL captaincy left him exhausted
However, Rahul’s recent statement suggested that he is not interested in captaining the IPL again after he fell out with Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) owner Sanjiv Goenka. He is currently playing in the two-match Test series opener against South Africa at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Talking about Humans of Bombay, KL Rahul said: “What I found difficult as a captain in the IPL was the number of meetings you had to do, the number of reviews you had to do and the number of things you had to explain at the owners’ level. It’s all really energy-consuming.”
“So I realized at the end of the IPL that I am more mentally and physically exhausted than after playing international cricket for 10 months.”
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The Indian batsman further explained, “There are so many things. Coaches and captains, you are asked a lot of questions all the time, and after a point it almost feels like you are being asked why you made this change. Why was Jatin playing in the XI?” How come the opposition got 200 and we didn’t even get 120?? Why do their bowlers get more spin??”
Meanwhile, the Capitals have retained a total of 16 players and released six players with one trade deal ahead of the IPL 2026 auction.
Delhi Capitals retain players:
Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Abishek Porel, Tristan Stubbs, Sameer Rizvi, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Ajay Mandal, Tripurana Vijay, Madhav Tiwari, Mitchell Starc, T Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar, Dushmantha Chameera, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Rana (exchanged from RR)
Released players:
Mohit Sharma, Faf du Plessis, Sediqullah Atal, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Manvanth Kumar, Darshan Nalkande, Donovan Ferreira (exchanged)
Remaining wallet: Rs 21.8 Crore
Remaining slots: 8 players (5 abroad)
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