KL, Axar to play big role in terms of responsibility: DC co-owner on team's batting line-up

Delhi Capitals (DC) co-owner Parth Jindal said that Indian stars KL Rahul and Axar Patel will play a much bigger role for the franchise in the coming Indian Premier League (IPL) season in terms of 'responsibility,' and they will be surrounded by seve explosive stars. In the coming Indian Premier League (IPL) season, Indian stars KL Rahul and Axar Patel will play a much bigger role in batting, with both players playing the long game so that other explosive players can express themselves freely.

In the recently concluded IPL auction, DC landed KL for Rs 14 crores. After a bidding war between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), Delhi Capitals (DC) entered the fray and got an opener, captain, and wicketkeeper-batter option in Rahul. On the other hand, Axar was retained by the franchise for his consistent performances since joining the team in 2019.

Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Parth said that KL and Axar will hold one end steady as other explosive stars like Harry Brook, Jake Fraser McGurk, Tristan Stubbs, and Ashutosh Sharma will deliver some big hits. He also anticipates some spin-friendly "dust bowls" in the IPL and feels that these two senior cricketers will be able to navigate through tough conditions and guide youngsters on what to do.

"In terms of responsibility, KL and Axar are going to play a bigger role for the batting, and we are going to be surrounding them with explosive players - whether it is a Jake Fraser-McGurk, whether it's a Tristan Stubbs, whether it is a Harry Brook, whether it is an Ashutosh Sharma--there is a lot of explosive power in the team."

"And you need someone to hold the team together, and, in KL we have a batsman who can definitely hold one end up and play on those difficult wickets as well. Because looking at the way Chennai (Super Kings) have lined up and looking at the way some of the other teams are lined up, there are going to be some dustbowls in the IPL. So you definitely need players who can navigate those kinds of situations and also guide some of these younger players on what to do," he added.

He also said that the team's batting looks really strong and the score of 230, 240 looks "par score" at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. Speaking about Australian speedster Mitchell Starc's entry in the team for Rs 11.75 crore, Parth said that he will be the leader of the pack with his "winning mentality.".

"Yeah, of course. We were looking for someone to lead the bowling line-up. He brings together that winning mentality. He is not only a World Cup winner, he also won the IPL last season. He is very handy with the bat, and he is a very nice person as well. I was hearing Harshit Rana's interview and Harshit talking about how much he picked up from Mitchell Starc. So he brings a lot of benefits as a cricketer," said Parth.

Parth also said that Mukesh Kumar, who joined the team in 2023, is also coming into his own and understands Delhi conditions really well.

"And then Nattu (T Natarajan), too,is great. We were very keen on getting him. I remember last season when Sunrisers Hyderabad were playing Delhi at the Kotla - Natarajan was very difficult to get away because of his yorkers, his slower-ball bouncers, his change-ups. From Rishabh to everyone else, they found it very difficult to get him away. So, from that day, we realised that, okay, this is a bowler we need to target," he said.

"Mohit Sharma again, same thing: can bowl at the death, can bowl with a new ball, back-of-the-hand, has changeups. Very experienced bowler. And then you have (Dushmanta) Chameera, who can fill in if anything happens to any of our fast bowlers," Jindal added.

Delhi Capitals squad:

Batters: Jake Fraser-McGurk (RTM), Harry Brook, Tristan Stubbs (retained), Faf du Plessis, Karun Nair

Wicketkeepers: KL Rahul, Abishek Porel (retained), Donovan Ferreria

Allrounders: Axar Patel (spin; retained), Ashutosh Sharma (spin), Sameer Rizvi (spin), Darshan Nalkande (pace), Vipraj Nigam (spin), Ajay Mandal (spin), Manvanth Kumar (pace), Tripurana Vijay (spin), Madhav Tiwari (pace)

Spinners: Kuldeep Yadav (retained)

Fast bowlers: Mitchell Starc, Mukesh Kumar, T Natarajan, Mohit Sharma, Dushmantha Chameera. (ANI)