David Warner to Lead Delhi Capitals in Rishabh Pant Absence
In place of usual captain Rishabh Pant, David Warner will captain Delhi Capitals in the upcoming 16th season of the Indian Premier League. Pant will miss the entire IPL 2023 due to the severe injuries sustained in the accident he was involved in in December 2022, and the franchise would be led by the veteran Australian player instead.
Warner has been chosen to serve as captain, and Indian all-rounder Axar Patel will serve as his backup. Axar has been in outstanding shape in all competitions and has been dominating the current Border Gavaskar Trophy. Being a great all-rounder who contributes equally with the bat and the ball, Axar Patel has made a name for himself.
Before the IPL 2022 mega auction, the Sunrisers Hyderabad released him, and Delhi Capitals snagged him for INR 6.25 crore. He performed admirably and lived up to the team’s expectations while playing the opener. Warner scored 432 runs in 12 games last year, including five half-centuries, and faced SRH with his highest score of 92*(58).
Warner has participated in more than ten seasons of the Indian Premier League and 13 different iterations of the competition. Warner also has IPL franchise management experience, having served as Sunrisers Hyderabad’s captain and guided the team to their first IPL championship in 2016. The franchise has not yet released a formal statement regarding the matter.
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On April 1 at the Ekana Stadium, Delhi Capitals will play their first IPL 2023 match against Lucknow Super Giants. With a fifth-place finish, Delhi had just two points kept them out of the playoffs.
The team added some significant players at the mini-auction last year, signing players like Manish Pandey, Phil Salt, and Rilee Rossouw, among others. Warner, on the other hand, had a disappointing performance in the current Border Gavaskar Trophy 2023 and was unable to play in the final two Test matches because of an elbow injury.