Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, Ajinkya Rahane to lose captaincy?:LSG, DC and KKR’s poor performances may trigger big overhaul

Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel and Ajinkya Rahane might not remain captains of their respective franchises- Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), Delhi Capitals (DC) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) anymore. IPL 2026 has been a forgettable tournament for these three teams, which have occupied the lower half of the points table for a good period of time. LSG have been officially knocked out of playoffs race with three wins in 11 matches. Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders are virtually out, needing a miraculous turn of events (other than winning their remaining matches) to find a place in the last four. Axar Patel to lose captaincy, DC set for major overhaul One of the biggest reasons for the Delhi Capitals’ struggles this season has been Axar’s captaincy, which has often been found wanting on a lot of occasions. Delhi Capitals, at the time of writing, have won only five matches out of 12. Despite impressing at times, DC have lacked the edge at times, losing by one run to the Gujarat Titans and being beaten despite posting a massive 265-run target against the Punjab Kings. “With Axar completely failing to prove his leadership worth and mostly being dependent on Hemang Badani and Venugopal Rao for decision-making, it will be a miracle if he retains captaincy next year,” news agency PTI quoted an IPL source, on condition of anonymity. Axar, though, might still be retained as a player. Axar has not made any impact as a player either. Despite batting in the top five, the all-rounder has scored just 100 runs, striking at 112.60. Out of this 100, 56 have come in one innings. With the ball, the 32-year-old has failed to deliver. He has scored only 100 runs in nine innings at a strike-rate of 112.50, with 56 coming in one innings and the remaining 44 aggregated across eight knocks despite batting mostly in the top-five. In 36 overs this season, Axar has managed to get just 10 wickets while conceding runs at 8.08. Not just this, but the Delhi Capitals are set for a massive coaching overhaul as well. Hemang Badani heads the coaching setup with Venugopal Rao as Director of Cricket. Ian Bell is the assistant coach for DC, while Munaf Patel is the bowling coach. It remains to be seen who succeeds Axar as Delhi Capitals if he is removed, with KL Rahul likely to be the obvious choice. What has gone wrong for Delhi Capitals? Delhi Capitals have also made several questionable decisions. Abishek Porel, who scored 301 runs and was a regular part of the squad that finished fifth last year, played just twice this season. Despite Delhi Capitals’ openers KL Rahul and Pathum Nissanka not having consistent success as a pair, Prithvi Shaw hasn’t been considered in the scheme of things. Young opener Sahil Parakh seems to be a work in progress and has seemed to have an untimely push to the first team. Madhav Tiwari, who stole the show against the Punjab Kings, was a late introduction in this tournament. Also read: Virat Kohli’s stump mic remark, ‘India ke liye thodi khelna…’: Bethell’s gold chain comes off after blow by Tyagi’s bouncer | WATCH Rishabh Pant in the line of fire as well Pant might also not be safe from being sacked as captain. After being roped in for a whopping Rs 27 crore (the most expensive signing in IPL history) and subsequently made LSG captain, owner Sanjiv Goenka had pressed high hopes on the wicketkeeper-batter, going so far as to say that he would one day be talked of in the same breath as MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma in the IPL. But reality has hit LSG pretty hard. Pant has found it tough to lead in these two seasons so far, especially with the weight of expectations from Goenka above all, on his shoulders. Not that Pant functioned well as a captain elsewhere. This season, Pant’s poor captaincy decisions and not having a fixed batting order for himself have hurt his team big time. Pant, the player might not have yet cracked his T20 game, and the fact that he has constantly shuffled from playing as an opener to going down to number four has not helped yet. This season, Pant has scored 251 runs in 11 matches and his strike rate has been a modest 138.67, not anywhere close to modern T20 standards. The fact that there have been other LSG batters who have been played out of their original positions (Pooran being shuffled up and down the order, Ayush Badoni’s unlikely promotion to being an opener before being dropped) has dealt a big blow to their campaign this term. Ajinkya Rahane’s forgettable season as KKR captain The report also mentions KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane, who might not only remain withth KKR next year but also go unsold at the mini-auction. Bought for Rs 1.50 crore in the accelerated auction as a late pick, Rahane was handed over the captaincy. And the Mumbai cricketer failed to carry on the legacy that guys like Gautam Gambhir and Shreyas Iyer left behind. Other than his captaincy, Rahane has not had much to say with the bat as well. He has scored 237 runs in 11 matches. This, after his fiery retort to critics questioning his strike-rate. And his pairing with Angkrish Raghuvanshi has not worked at all for the Knight Riders, with both Mumbai batters being of the same fold. They have hit a combined total of 25 sixes in 11 matches. The PTI report further adds that although Rahane is likely to be released, it will be highly bizarre if he isn’t and remains part of the KKR outfit next season.