Finch Urges Axar Patel to Take More Responsibility as DC Captain After Loss Against Sunrisers

Aaron Finch has raised concerns about the captaincy decisions of Axar Patel. He said the Indian spinner hasn’t been able to make the right calls in the recent matches, which is why Delhi Capitals have lost some crucial games in the IPL 2026. He specifically pointed out Axar’s inability to utilize Kuldeep Yadav properly, who looked ineffective in the recent clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

"We've been sitting there scratching our heads, haven't we? Your two Indian premier spin bowlers, Axar Patel, the skipper [2-0-23-1], Kuldeep Yadav [2-0-30-0], they bowled four overs between them. A part-time offspinner in Nitish Rana has wheeled out four overs. To me that makes no sense." said former Australian captain, Aaron Finch.

"It's the responsibility of your captain, your senior player, your retained player, your best bowler, Indian bowler, he's one of your core bowlers in the Indian cricket team. That's no small bit. He's a double World Cup winner. So the fact that he doesn't trust himself to execute under pressure and to defend himself against any left-handers, as soon as a left-hander walks to the crease, not for me today, thanks. To me that says more about his attitude towards it than anything else." said Aaron Finch.

Former South African captain Faf du Plessis also endorsed Finch’s views, saying Axar should have been more aggressive against Sunrisers Hyderabad from the start of the match.

"We wouldn't have such a bold stand if he had bowled that over and he went for 20. We wouldn't have gone why are you bowling yourself ahead of Rana.” said Faf du Plessis.

"The obvious thing is that Axar would have thought lefties at the crease, I've bowled my two overs. But the point is he got the lefty out, he got Head out. That was one thing. The next part of it is you didn't go to someone else that your impact player that came on and bowled, a fast bowler that came on the field. He gave those overs to [Rana] - how many times in his career in the IPL has he bowled four overs in T20 cricket. Never?” added Faf du Plessis.