Why Faf du Plessis is Delhi Capitals Captain vs MI Replacing Axar Patel?

Delhi Capitals today play their biggest match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 campaign as they take on the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium with the 4th place on stake.

We already know 3 teams who who will play in the IPL 2025 playoffs. There is no 2 teams currently vying for one single spot, the Mumbai Indians (MI) and the Delhi Capitals (DC) with the former currently occupying the 4th place.

This is a must win match for the Delhi Capitals as a loss would see Mumbai qualify. A win meanwhile will take the Capitals to 4th place, jumping over Mumbai Indians.

However, the visitors have suffered a major blow as the team’s regular captain Axar Patel has been replaced by Faf du Plessis as captain for the match. So what happened to Axar Patel?

Faf du Plessis himself confirmed during the toss that Axar Patel has been sick for the last few days and hasn’t recover yet to play in this match.

Faf said during the toss, “Unfortunate for him, really sick for the last two days, down with flu, so we wish him all the best. He’s best excellent for us this season, and we will definitely miss him today.”

Meanwhile, Delhi Capitals’ stand-in captain Faf du Plessis has won the toss and opted to bowl first. This is a must win match for them to stay in the hunt for a spot in the playoffs.

As of writing this, the Mumbai Indians is currently sitting at 4th spot in the points table with 14 points so far from 12 games. Delhi Capitals is right behind them on 5th spot with 13 points from 12 games played.

Gujarat Titans, Royal Challengers Bengaluru and the Punjab Kings are the four teams who have qualified for the IPL 2025 playoffs already while last season’s champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have joined the likes of Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Rajasthan Royals among the 5 teams already out of the race.