Credit: BCCI/IPL
Sources close to SportsTiger confirm, Delhi Capitals are planning for a massive change in leadership for their IPL and WPL squads ahead of a busy season in 2026. KL Rahul is expected to take over from Axar Patel as the captain ahead of next season. While Meg Lanning who was released by DC will be replaced by Jemimah Rodrigues. The fourth edition of WPL starts from January 9, and the Delhi Capitals are currently without a captain and Jemimah Rodrigues is the likely player to fill that captaincy role.
There was a post by official Delhi Capitals Instagram which said “Big announcement coming your way on 23 December, at 6 PM”. The fans quickly jumped and started the guess work, and numerous theories were put forward in the comment section. The two most prominent ones were the appointment of new captains in WPL and IPL.
The three-time runners-up Delhi Capitals are now most likely to go ahead with Jemimah Rodrigues as their new leader. It was always going to be an Indian captain, DC co-owner had hinted and the choices were between Shafali and Jemimah. After her World Cup performance and given she was the vice captain to Meg last season, there’s all likelihood that Jemimah will lead the Delhi Capitals .
Delhi Capitals are also set to replace Axar Patel with KL Rahul as the new Delhi Capitals captain for IPL 2026. Axar Patel was announced as the skipper for IPL 2025 after Rishabh Pant’s departure. Axar Patel got their campaign off to a great start, but eventually the side collapsed and kept losing and finished fifth on the table with seven wins in 14 matches, failing to qualify for the playoffs. Therefore, reports suggest that KL Rahul could take over. Another strong point suggesting this is a few days back after IPL auction, Parth Jindal said that KL Rahul was the one who wanted Ben Duckett in the squad and they picked him. This shows KL Rahul could likely be made the captain ahead of IPL 2026.
