The uncertainty surrounding KL Rahul's availability for Delhi Capitals' IPL 2025 opener against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Visakhapatnam persists, despite his joining the team. DC's new captain, Axar Patel, confirmed that Rahul's participation in the first game remains uncertain due to "personal" reasons. Meanwhile, DC's head coach, Hemang Badani, added to the intrigue by keeping Rahul's batting position a mystery, stating that fans will have to "wait and watch" until Monday.

"Obviously, he joined the team," Axar said of Rahul's availability. "We don't know yet [if he'll play]. Right now we don't know if he is available or not."

Axar Patel has stepped in as Delhi Capitals' captain, replacing Rishabh Pant, who was picked up by LSG. Aware of the high-scoring trends in the IPL since last season, Axar emphasized the need for his team to "evolve" and adapt to the fast-changing dynamics of the game.

"Nowadays cricket has changed a lot," Axar said. "Mostly IPL is more about batsman's game, fours and sixes. So we have to evolve as a team. At the end of the day, I don't want to complicate things. As captain I told the group that cricket is a game, keep it simple. A good yorker is a good yorker ball and if your execution is good, then you will be fine. So I am not telling them too much that you should go for this and that. I am just asking them to keep it simple, that's my strategy throughout the tournament.

"We learn from the last season, I said that cricket has evolved too much. From the last season we learned that you have to be ahead of the game. You can't be chasing the game. It's not like in the powerplay we have to swing the ball or we have to bowl length balls. We can even start from two-three slower balls. So it's not any particular plan for any batsman. We have to change the plan according to the situation which I learned from the last season."

Delhi Capitals, still chasing their first IPL title after 17 years, handed the captaincy to Axar Patel over KL Rahul, who has led India, and Faf du Plessis, an experienced captain for South Africa and SA20. Axar expressed his hope of learning from both of them as he takes on the leadership role.

"Our mindset is going there to express ourselves, be fearless and we are all ready to give our 100% and the players are also really enjoying the atmosphere here in DC family. We are ready to roll.

"I am very confident about the Delhi Capitals team. I am playing since 2019 for Delhi Capitals and I have grown as a cricketer in this franchise. It's an honour for me to lead this franchisee and there are many leaders in our team. So from them I get that experience and they are there for me. Faf is there, KL is there and many experienced players are there. So we have a good balanced team. And we will change the results this time."