Why is Axar Patel not playing MI vs DC IPL 2025 match? Who is the DC captain?

The big breaking news coming in is that Delhi Capitals (DC) captain Axar Patel is not playing the do-or-die Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) encounter against the Mumbai Indians (MI) scheduled to be played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Things have not turned out in an ideal manner for the Delhi Capitals especially in the second half of the T20 competition. After winning a total of four matches in a row at the start of the tournament, the Delhi Capitals have managed to win just a single game out of their last five matches. While considering the current scenario, Delhi Capitals need to win both of their last two league stage matches against Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings to qualify for the IPL 2025 playoffs. 

Why is Axar Patel not playing today's MI vs DC IPL 2025 match? Who is the DC Captain?

After winning the toss and opting to field first, Delhi Capitals stand-in captain Faf du Plessis mentioned that regular skipper Axar Patel is unfortunately not part of the DC playing 11 for this important clash against Mumbai Indians on Wednesday. Du Plessis further revealed that the senior all-rounder has not been keeping well from the past two days and thus, he was not available for selection in this Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Capitals IPL 2025 match. However, his absence is a huge setback for the Delhi Capitals as a leader, left-arm spinner and a middle-order batter. 

Axar Patel has smacked a total of 263 runs from 12 games in this IPL 2025 season at a remarkable strike-rate of close to 160. He has also taken as many as 5 wickets with the ball at an economy of 8.47. It is very much hard for the Delhi Capitals to replace a quality all-rounder like Axar Patel. However, they have included the duo of Sameer Rizvi and Madhav Tiwari in the DC playing XI. 

"(On Axar) Really sick in the last two days. We'll miss him today. Playing a good team today, we are up for it. We haven't been at our best in the last 5-6 games. Everyday there's a new opportunity. Looks a bit dry, we're chasing. Axar is not there, Axar is two players and it's difficult to replace him. We'll see how it goes," stated Delhi Capitals stand-in captain Faf du Plessis during the toss. 

Faf will captain us tonight in Mumbai ✨

Get well soon, Bapu 💙❤️

— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) May 21, 2025

DC Playing 11

Faf du Plessis(c), Abishek Porel(w), Sameer Rizvi, Tristan Stubbs, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Madhav Tiwari, Kuldeep Yadav, Dushmantha Chameera, Mustafizur Rahman, Mukesh Kumar. 

Delhi Capitals Impact Subs: KL Rahul, Sediqullah Atal, Karun Nair, Tripurana Vijay, Manvanth Kumar L

DC IPL 2025 Squad

KL Rahul, Faf du Plessis, Abishek Porel(w), Axar Patel(c), Tristan Stubbs, Sameer Rizvi, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Kuldeep Yadav, T Natarajan, Mustafizur Rahman, Dushmantha Chameera, Sediqullah Atal, Karun Nair, Tripurana Vijay, Madhav Tiwari, Mohit Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Darshan Nalkande, Donovan Ferreira, Manvanth Kumar L