Axar Patel and Rishabh Pant. | (Credits: X)
Delhi Capitals’ newly-appointed skipper Axar Patel was seen poking fun at his opposite number Rishabh Pant during a practice session ahead of their IPL 2025 clash against the Lucknow Super Giants on Monday in Vishakhapatnam. With Pant teasing Axar for speaking to Capitals’ coach Hemang Badani in Gujarati, the latter told the keeper-batter in Hindi ‘Aadha toh tu bhi Gujarati hai’, which means you are half-Gujarati too.
Not only have Axar and Pant played for India for numerous years, but also been part of the Capitals, with the latter captaining the franchise for multiple seasons. However, the two will be up against one another this time.
Below is the clip of the conversation between the duo:
“I am just asking them to keep it simple” – Axar Patel’s message to his teammates
At the pre-match presser, the 31-year-old acknowledged that IPL has become primarily a batsman’s contest but the message to his teammates has been to keep the execution spot-on and everything else simple. He said, as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo:
“Nowadays cricket has changed a lot. Mostly IPL is more about batsman’s game, fours and sixes. So we have to evolve as a team. At the end of the day, I don’t want to complicate things. As captain I told the group that cricket is a game, keep it simple. A good yorker is a good yorker ball and if your execution is good, then you will be fine. So I am not telling them too much that you should go for this and that. I am just asking them to keep it simple, that’s my strategy throughout the tournament.”
