Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra has identified three potential candidates for the Delhi Capitals captaincy role – Axar Patel, KL Rahul and Faf du Plessis – in the IPL 2025. He believes Axar could be the frontrunner given his recent rise in stature within Indian cricket. Delhi retained Axar for Rs 16.50 crore ahead of the mega auction last year, reflecting their faith in his abilities. They later secured KL Rahul for Rs 14 crore and Faf du Plessis for Rs 2 crore at the auction in Jeddah. Axar had a productive IPL 2024 season, picking up 11 wickets at an economy rate of 7.65 while also contributing 235 runs at a strike rate of 131.28 in 12 innings.

“I feel Delhi have three options. They have Axar Patel and KL Rahul, and they have Faf du Plessis as well. They retained Axar Patel. Bapu’s stature is growing. He has been outstanding of late. He is the Indian T20I team’s vice-captain,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

“He will play the Champions Trophy as well and has been given a very important role in the Indian ODI team. He is mature. He is brilliant. He understands the pulse of the game. He puts the team ahead of himself. So he could be a great choice.”

Chopra also highlighted KL Rahul’s leadership experience as a strong factor in his captaincy bid. “The second is KL Rahul. I feel they got him cheap. It was a steal. He has got some captaincy credentials. He has captained India, the Punjab Kings, and the Lucknow Super Giants for three years, and they qualified for two years as well. So he could be the captain,” he noted.

While discussing left-field choices, Chopra suggested that Faf du Plessis could be an option but felt Axar might ultimately be the franchise’s pick. “I think it’s going to be a close race. One has been retained, and the other has been bought. So one between the two, or else if they want to think absolutely left-field, then Faf du Plessis, who is not getting old at all. However, I have a feeling that it could be Axar,” he observed.

In another major captaincy development, Chopra expressed surprise at the appointment of Rajat Patidar as the new Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) captain for IPL 2025. “Rajat Patidar is RCB’s new leader. We shall find out how effective he would be. We thought it would be Kohli, but he is not. Rajat Patidar is the eighth captain. Before him, they had Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Kevin Pietersen, Daniel Vettori, Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, and Virat Kohli, who captained them for the longest time.”

While RCB have not won an IPL title, Chopra emphasised that they remain a competitive side. “Great players have captained this franchise. We measure a franchise’s success on the number of trophies they have lifted. They haven’t won even one, but it is not an unsuccessful franchise. It’s a decently successful franchise without a trophy. It’s not a team that remains at the bottom of the table or close to the wooden spoon,” he remarked.

Virat Kohli will be “super motivated” to put a struggling phase behind him and the premier India batter is capable of returning to his run-making ways, said former South African captain Faf du Plessis here on Wednesday. Kohli had a torrid time in Australia during the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy, amassing a mere 190 runs at an average of 23.75 across five Tests despite starting off with an unbeaten hundred in the first Test at Perth.

Du Plessis backed Kohli, his one-time teammate at Royal Challengers Bangalore, to come back stronger from the struggles, and said retirement is a “very personal” choice.

“That is very, very personal. No one can speak to you about when that time is (up) as a player, you’ll know,” du Plessis told PTI on the sidelines of the SA20 Season 3’s Captain’s Day.

“I know someone like him is super super motivated, he’s gone through it all before, so he knows exactly what to do,” said Du Plessis.

The 40-year-old then went back to the day when he felt his time was up as a Test cricketer.

“It is different for every player. Every player needs to answer that question. I remember when that time was for me,” he said.

“I just knew that certainly from the Test cricket perspective for me. I didn’t have that same hunger and drive anymore and I felt that that stage certainly for me was a good time to let new guys come in and also step into the T20 world.

“I wanted to do that at the stage where I still felt like I was on top of my game,” he added.

Du Plessis was not pleased with ICC reportedly exploring the possibility of a two-tier Test system.

“No, I think we need the game to be healthy,” Du Plessis said.

“We saw over the last few years the value that was put on Test cricket by Australia, England and India making sure that there were 4-5 Test series.

“When you look at the other teams, there are two Test matches here and there and playing six Test matches a season. I do not think that is healthy for the game,” he offered.

“As long as we can look at Test cricket as (being) important, you just look at all the Test matches that took place over the last few weeks, some incredible matches have been played,” Du Plessis noted.

“SA deserve to raise WTC trophy” 

South Africa spinner Keshav Maharaj rated the consistency of his side in Test cricket “phenomenal” and said they deserve to “raise a prestigious title.” The Proteas will face Australia in the final of the World Test Championship in June at the Lord’s.

South Africa advanced to the title clash of the 2023-25 cycle with a 2-0 win over Pakistan at home, while India’s string of losses against New Zealand at home and against Australia ended their hopes of a third consecutive WTC final appearance.

“If you look at our Test unit, not many people would have afforded us the opportunity of making the final, but we’ve been phenomenal from a consistency point of view, from a cricket perspective,” Maharaj told PTI.

“The togetherness on the field and the camaraderie and spirit (that) you see within the dressing room propelled us to get there.

“Hopefully, this is our year and we go one better than we’ve done previously and raise a very prestigious title in the Test format,” he said.

Maharaj, however, conceded that defending champions Australia are a formidable opponent.

“It’s the hardest format of the game. It’s most challenging physically, mentally and emotionally. As a unit, the (kind of) cricket (that) we have played, we deserve to go and raise a trophy.

“But we are against formidable opponents, hopefully, we will come up on the right side of things,” he said. 

Virat Kohli will be “super motivated” to put a struggling phase behind him and the premier India batter is capable of returning to his run-making ways, said former South African captain Faf du Plessis in Cape Town on Wednesday. Kohli had a torrid time in Australia during the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy, amassing a mere 190 runs at an average of 23.75 across five Tests despite starting off with an unbeaten hundred in the first Test at Perth.

Du Plessis backed Kohli, his one-time teammate at Royal Challengers Bangalore, to come back stronger from the struggles, and said retirement is a “very personal” choice.

“That is very, very personal. No one can speak to you about when that time is (up) as a player, you’ll know,” du Plessis told PTI on the sidelines of the SA20 Season 3’s Captain’s Day.

“I know someone like him is super super motivated, he’s gone through it all before, so he knows exactly what to do,” said Du Plessis.

The 40-year-old then went back to the day when he felt his time was up as a Test cricketer.

“It is different for every player. Every player needs to answer that question. I remember when that time was for me,” he said.

“I just knew that certainly from the Test cricket perspective for me. I didn’t have that same hunger and drive anymore and I felt that that stage certainly for me was a good time to let new guys come in and also step into the T20 world.

“I wanted to do that at the stage where I still felt like I was on top of my game,” he added.

Du Plessis was not pleased with ICC reportedly exploring the possibility of a two-tier Test system.

“No, I think we need the game to be healthy,” Du Plessis said.

“We saw over the last few years the value that was put on Test cricket by Australia, England and India making sure that there were 4-5 Test series.

“When you look at the other teams, there are two Test matches here and there and playing six Test matches a season. I do not think that is healthy for the game,” he offered.

“As long as we can look at Test cricket as (being) important, you just look at all the Test matches that took place over the last few weeks, some incredible matches have been played,” Du Plessis noted.

“SA deserve to raise WTC trophy”

South Africa spinner Keshav Maharaj rated the consistency of his side in Test cricket “phenomenal” and said they deserve to “raise a prestigious title.” The Proteas will face Australia in the final of the World Test Championship in June at the Lord’s.

South Africa advanced to the title clash of the 2023-25 cycle with a 2-0 win over Pakistan at home, while India’s string of losses against New Zealand at home and against Australia ended their hopes of a third consecutive WTC final appearance.

“If you look at our Test unit, not many people would have afforded us the opportunity of making the final, but we’ve been phenomenal from a consistency point of view, from a cricket perspective,” Maharaj told PTI.

“The togetherness on the field and the camaraderie and spirit (that) you see within the dressing room propelled us to get there.

“Hopefully, this is our year and we go one better than we’ve done previously and raise a very prestigious title in the Test format,” he said.

Maharaj, however, conceded that defending champions Australia are a formidable opponent.

“It’s the hardest format of the game. It’s most challenging physically, mentally and emotionally. As a unit, the (kind of) cricket (that) we have played, we deserve to go and raise a trophy.

“But we are against formidable opponents, hopefully, we will come up on the right side of things,” he said.

Aakash Chopra has backed all-rounder Axar Patel to lead Delhi Capitals in IPL 2025.© BCCI

Former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis escaped a nasty injury after almost colliding with a ball boy during an Abu Dhabi T10 league match at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium. Du Plessis was tossed over the advertising hoardings, leading to an awkward landing. The incident happened during the match between the Morrisville Samp Army and Delhi Bulls on Wednesday. With the Bulls chasing 113 to win, Tim David hit Isuru Udana for a boundary towards the extra cover region. 

Du Plessis made a long chase to stop the ball but failed to do so. However, du Plessis couldn’t apply the brakes in time as the follow through took him beyond the ropes.

While the two were about to collide, the ball boy, who had crouched to collect the ball, unintentionally tossed du Plessis over the hoardings. The former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) captain landed awkwardly on the other side.

Luckily for him, du Plessis came out of the situation unharmed. A video of the same incident has gone viral on social media.

– Criket Mania

– Faf Du Plessis….pic.twitter.com/cooNOcZWpz

— Criket Mania (@criketmania) November 29, 2024

Meanwhile, Morrisville Samp Army continued their winning ways as they rode on Charith Asalanka‘s fiery innings and a tremendous bowling effort to script a three-run win over Delhi Bulls.

On a slow-turning track, Morrisville made the most of the dropped catches from the Bulls. Charith Asalanka’s 25-ball 51-run innings further helped Samp Army post 112/5 in 10 overs.

Tom Banton gave a good start to Delhi in the chase, scoring 25 runs in 11 balls. But after Mohammad Zahid cleaned up his stumps with his first ball, the momentum began shifting towards Morrisville. With a few tight overs from Mohammad Zahid, Qais Ahmad and Karim Janat, Morrisville shackled the Delhi Bulls until Tim David started turning things around once again.

Zahid bowled two wide balls in the final over, turning the contest into a nail-biting thriller. With Delhi needing five runs to win on the final ball, David was run out and Samp Army won the match by 3 runs.

(With ANI Inputs)

Virat Kohli was retained by Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction. Alongside him, RCB retained only two more players: middle order batter Rajat Patidar and uncapped Indian fast bowler Yash Dayal. This meant that Mohammad Siraj, Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell are among the big names let go by RCB. All the ten franchises were asked to submit the names of their retained players by Thursday, October 31. RCB, who played under the captaincy of batter Faf du Plessis, entered the Playoffs but lost in the Eliminator match against Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2024. However, their turn-around in the season became one of the major highlights as they won six matches on the trot, to enter the Playoffs. 

Kohli has been retained for Rs 21 cr, an increase of Rs 6 cr from his previous retention price.

Choosing to retain only three players — and just two capped players — has left the Royal Challengers with a lot of flexibility heading into the auction. They will enter the mega auction with three Right to Match (RTM) cards, which they can use on three capped players or two capped and one uncapped player.

Faf du Plessis — who took over captaincy of RCB from Kohli in 2022 — has been let go. Du Plessis recently captained Caribbean Premier League (CPL) franchise St. Lucia Kings to the title. St. Lucia Kings are a subsidiary of IPL team Punjab Kings.

Glenn Maxwell and Mohammad Siraj, two players retained by RCB in 2022, have been let go.

Alongside them, explosive English batter Will Jacks, Australian all-rounder Cameron Green, Indian pacers Akash Deep and Vijaykumar Vyshak, New Zealand pacer Lockie Ferguson and West Indian pacer Alzarri Joseph have been released by the franchise.

Wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik retired from cricket following IPL 2024, and has joined RCB’s coaching staff.

RCB will enter the IPL 2025 mega auction with a purse of Rs Rs 83 cr, the second-highest among all franchises.

PLAYERS RETAINED:

1. Virat Kohli (Rs 21 cr)

2. Rajat Patidar (Rs 11 cr)

3. Yash Dayal (Rs 5 cr – uncapped)

AUCTION BUDGET: Rs 83 cr

RTMs available: 3

Players released: Faf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell, Anuj Rawat, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Mayank Dagar, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Cameron Green, Alzarri Joseph, Lockie Ferguson, Swapnil Singh.

America’s Aaron Jones laboured hard to score 48 not out in 31 deliveries after Afghanistan’s Noor Ahmad scalped three wickets as Saint Lucia Kings defeated the Guyana Amazon Warriors by six wickets in the final to win their maiden Caribbean Premier League (CPL) title at Providence Stadium. The victory made Saint Lucia the fifth team to win the CPL, ending their run as the only original franchise yet to claim the title. On a slow, tricky pitch, and after a middle-order collapse that left Saint Lucia reeling at 51 for 4 in pursuit of a modest 139, Jones turned the match around with a sudden burst of power-hitting.

The Warriors’ spinners, led by Imran Tahir and Gudakesh Motie, strangled the Kings, sending the packed crowd into a frenzy. For nine long overs, Saint Lucia couldn’t find a single boundary. Roston Chase, battling illness, was struggling, and Jones looked so out of sorts that Daren Sammy briefly considered retiring him out.

But just when it seemed like the Kings might falter, Jones flipped the script. After creeping to 10 off 19 balls, he exploded, smashing 38 off his next 12 deliveries. With crucial support from Chase, who played a calming role akin to Marlon Samuels’ famous big-match performances for West Indies, the pair forged an unbroken 88-run partnership. Their efforts took Saint Lucia over the finish line, with two balls to spare, stunning the home crowd that had roared for Guyana all evening.

The victory ended a long-standing jinx for the Kings, who had previously been the only original franchise yet to claim the CPL title. The team, formerly known as the St Lucia Zouks, had come close in past years but had always fallen short, including a playoff exit just last season.

This year, however, under Sammy’s leadership and powered by standout performances from players like Chase and Jones, the Kings finally lifted the trophy.

Chase, who has been with the Kings for five seasons, battled illness and pressure to deliver a crucial performance in the final. Having already earned a Cricket West Indies central contract earlier in the week, Chase’s calmness and resilience underlined his growing reputation as a key player in the CPL. His contributions with both bat and ball throughout the season were critical to Saint Lucia’s success.

Before the Kings’ spirited comeback, the match had seemed to be tilting in Guyana’s favour. The Warriors’ spin quartet had kept Saint Lucia under constant pressure, and the crowd was at its loudest when Tahir and Motie were picking up wickets. Aaron Jones and Roston Chase’s boundary drought made Guyana’s back-to-back title hopes seem almost inevitable.

Earlier in the match, Saint Lucia’s bowlers had done well to restrict Guyana to 102 for 7 after 18 overs. However, the Warriors managed to scramble 36 runs from the final two overs to post a competitive 138.

Afghanistan’s Noor Ahmad was the star with the ball for the Kings, taking three wickets in the final. His efforts throughout the tournament earned him the Player of the Series award, as he finished the competition as the leading wicket-taker with 22 scalps at an outstanding economy rate of 6.19.

AB de Villiers feels the move, Rohit Sharma to RCB, is unlikely to happen.© Youtube

As the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) continues to make the franchises wait for the retention policy ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction, franchises are working in the background to find perfect solutions for their respective squads. Reports have suggested that the BCCI is unlikely to allow the retention of more than 6 players ahead of the auction, including Right To Match, making it quite tricky for the 10 teams to decide their retention and release list.

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), who went on an unreal run last season to make it to the playoffs, also have some tough calls to take before their finalise their retention list. The biggest of all, arguably, the decision whether to retain their skipper Faf du Plessis or not.

5 Players RCB are likely to retain ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction:

Virat Kohli: Undoubtedly the No. 1 pick for the franchise. Virat Kohli might have retired from T20 internationals but still has a lot to offer to his franchise. He was the top-scoring batter in the IPL 2024 season, with 741 runs to his name. There’s no way RCB would even think about letting him go.

Mohammed Siraj: Unarguably the finest pacer in the team for RCB, Siraj is one of the core members of the franchise, alongside Kohli. Though his performance last season was up to the mark, the franchise is still likely to show faith in him.

Yash Dayal: His arrival at RCB from Gujarat Titans had become a big talking point but Dayal proved the doubters wrong, proving to be an important asset in the RCB arsenal. Since the conclusion of the 2024 season, Dayal has gone on to impress even the national selectors, becoming a key next-gen star who could be in line to make his India debut soon.

Rajat Patidar: A solid middle-order batter, Rajat Patidar has been a revelation for RCB over the last few years. He is all but certain to keep his place in the roster, and doesn’t even face much competition from others in the squad for his spot.

Will Jacks: With Glenn Maxwell being off-coloured, Will Jacks is likely to partner Cameron Green for the two overseas spots in the team. Though, it might not be possible for RCB to keep both Green and Jacks in the retention list if they are to keep hold of Dayal. 

Likely to Miss Out:

Cameron Green: The Australian all-rounder is a rare commodity in the sport. Since his arrival at the franchise, Green hasn’t set the stage on fire. This is one of the reasons why RCB might decide to release him. 

Faf du Plessis: RCB might just decide to retain 5 players and assemble the rest of the squad in the auction. But, if they decide to retain a 6th player, Du Plessis faces competition from Green for the spot.