Picture Credit: X/@DelhiCapitals
Delhi Capitals (DC) skipper Axar Patel was seen having a conversation with a robot at the Ekana Cricket Stadium before his team’s Indian Premier League (IPL) clash against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on April 22. DC and LSG will face each other for the second time in this tournament. In their last meeting in Visakhapatnam, DC held their nerves and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Chasing a huge target of 210 runs, Delhi witnessed the spunky innings of Ashutosh Sharma to bag an intriguing one-wicket win. The 27-year-old played an unbeaten 66 off 31 to help his team emerge victorious. He also got the player of the match (POTM) award for his courageous knock.
This time, Lucknow will look to settle scores but the Delhi captain Axar didn’t look anxious before the upcoming challenge. A video posted by DC showed him having a conversation with a robot dog, who has been named 'Champak' asking it, "Gujarati samajhta hai?" (Do you understand Gujarati?). The robot’s reply leaves Patel in splits. Taking to their X handle, DC captioned the video, "Bapu talking to a robotic dog in Gujarati was not on our 2025 bingo card."
DC will look to return to winning ways
DC will go into the contest against LSG after their seven-wicket defeat at the hands of Gujarat Titans (GT) at the iconic Narendra Modi Stadium. They failed to score a mammoth score of 203 runs against the Shubman Gill-led side. On the other hand, LSG looked confident against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in their last game in Jaipur.
Riding on their pacer Avesh Khan’s bowling excellence, LSG defended nine runs in the final over and clinched a two-run win. This time, Super Giants will be wary of DC, who trumped them in their previous meet in the final overs of the game. DC captain Axar, who has made a decent contribution to his team with his bat, will be expected to chip in with the ball as well.
This year, he has bowled 19 overs in seven games and has picked up only one wicket. As a batter, he has racked up 140 runs in six innings at a strike rate of 159.09. Under his leadership, DC are sitting on the second spot on the points tally with five wins and two losses in seven outings.
