Delhi Capitals captain Axar Patel (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia) Mohammad Kaif has slammed Axar Patel for publicly pointing fingers at teammate Kuldeep Yadav during Delhi Capitals’ difficult IPL 2026 campaign. Despite a rousing three-wicket win over Punjab Kings in Dharamsala on Monday, Delhi Capitals remain under pressure after losing seven of their 12 matches this season to keep their play-off hopes alive. Questions also continued to surround their spin department, particularly the performances of Axar and Kuldeep.
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Delhi Capitals’ Madhav Tiwari reflects on his brilliant all-round performance After Delhi’s earlier defeat against Chennai Super Kings, Axar spoke publicly about Kuldeep’s struggles, which Kaif believes should not have happened. Kaif said on his YouTube channel that veteran captains avoid singling out players in public, especially those with a proven track record Kuldeep. “A mature captain never names any of his players publicly or lets his player down. He doesn’t blame them openly. I understand that Kuldeep went through a tough phase this season – he didn’t play that well and didn’t take many wickets. But since he joined Delhi, he has been a proven bowler,” Kaif said. Kaif further endorsed Kuldeep’s long-term value, highlighting his consistency for both Delhi and India across formats over the years. “Forget just the IPL; even if you talk about India in ODIs or T20Is over the years, he has always performed consistently. Yes, this season has been a bit quiet for him and his bowling has not been the best. But you should never name a player publicly. Instead, you should simply say that things as a team have not gone well,” he added. Interestingly, Axar himself took the knock as captain during Delhi’s dramatic chase against Punjab Kings. After DC slipped to 33/3 chasing 211, Axar smashed 56 off 30 balls and put together a vital partnership with David Miller to revive the innings. After the win, Axar praised the character shown by his side and insisted that Delhi had played good cricket despite failing to win key moments earlier in the season. “I said we are a good team, we are playing good cricket but we are not winning the key moments,” Axar said after the match. “I’m really happy with the way we played and I hope we continue to play like this.” He also praised the youngsters in the squad, adding: “With the type of cricket we play and the strength on the bench we have, the future is in good hands. The youngsters standing in those situations is a good sign.”
