{"id":2060,"date":"2026-03-18T02:24:33","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T02:24:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/2026\/03\/18\/ipl-2026-kl-rahul-to-lead-delhi-capitals-charge-from-the-top-cricket-news\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T02:24:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T02:24:33","slug":"ipl-2026-kl-rahul-to-lead-delhi-capitals-charge-from-the-top-cricket-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/?p=2060","title":{"rendered":"IPL 2026: KL Rahul to lead Delhi Capitals charge from the top | Cricket News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"MwN2O\">\n<div class=\"vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"T22zO\">\n<section class=\"D3Wk1  clearfix id-r-component leadmedia undefined undefined  VtlfQ \" style=\"top:0px\">\n<div class=\"D3Wk1\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">\n<div class=\"zPaFh\">\n<div class=\"wJnIp\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-129632198,imgsize-49720,width-400,resizemode-4\/p-63.jpg\" alt=\"IPL 2026: KL Rahul to lead Delhi Capitals charge from the top\" title=\"Delhi Capitals' KL Rahul celebrates his half century during an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 T20 cricket match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Delhi Capitals, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, in Bengaluru, Karnataka. (PTI File Photo)\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"cj2hz img_cptn\"><span title=\"Delhi Capitals' KL Rahul celebrates his half century during an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 T20 cricket match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Delhi Capitals, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, in Bengaluru, Karnataka. (PTI File Photo)\">Delhi Capitals&#8217; KL Rahul celebrates his half century during an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 T20 cricket match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Delhi Capitals, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, in Bengaluru, Karnataka. (PTI File Photo)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>NEW DELHI: KL Rahul is all set to open for the Delhi Capitals in the 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL). The 33-year-old will also don the gloves for the Delhi-based franchise. <span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"1\"\/>In the previous season, the experienced batter initially featured in the middle order, but poor returns from the big buy Jake Fraser-McGurk forced the think tank to promote him to the top in search of more stable starts.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"4\"\/> <span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"6\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"lOvcW vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"k7lcu\">\n<div class=\"efT4r\">\n<p><i class=\"XVSwc\"\/> <span>Watch<\/span><\/p>\n<p> <!-- -->IPL 2026 should be audition for the next India T20I captain<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> <span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"9\"\/>Rahul batted at No. 4, a position decided before the season started, in most games last season, but a course correction occurred after 11 league matches. The change in position reaped instant rewards as Rahul hit an unbeaten 65-ball 112 against the Gujarat Titans. However, it came in a losing cause as the Shubman Gill-led unit overhauled the 200-run target with ten wickets in hand, and an over to spare.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"11\"\/>Rahul was the Delhi Capitals&#8217; leading run-getter last year, scoring 539 runs in 13 games. Rahul&#8217;s strike rate was 149.72, which marked his best since the 2018 edition. <span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"16\"\/>Delhi Capitals have started preparations for the upcoming season, and the multiple preparatory camps featuring Indian players have already happened in Delhi and Hyderabad. The coaching staff, led by head coach Hemang Badani and Director of Cricket Venugopal Rao, has shifted focus to the IPL after fulfilling their commitments for The Hundred. More clarity on roles will emerge when captain Axar Patel links up with the squad.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"20\"\/>Delhi Capitals had made some smart purchases in the auction. They managed to acquire David Miller and Ben Duckett at their base prices. They also strengthened their bowling attack by adding Auqib Nabi, Lungi Ngidi and Kyle Jamieson.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"22\"\/>The Axar Patel-led unit had a strong start in the last season but lost steam after losing to the Mumbai Indians at home. The defeat derailed their momentum and some ordinary back-to-back performances pushed them out of the playoff race. Capitals finished No.5 when the league stage of the tournament ended.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"24\"\/>A strong Indian core, quality overseas picks and two world-class spinners in Axar and Kuldeep Yadav make the Delhi unit the team to watch this season. They will hope their strong performance ends their long wait for a maiden IPL title.<\/p>\n<div data-type=\"in_view\" class=\"O6hu2 tHlBa  \"><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/microsite_v2\/website-toisa,path-book_pass_2026.cms?utm_source=TOI&amp;utm_medium=Masthead_sports\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" rel=\"noopener\" frmappuse=\"1\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Banner Insert\" imgsize=\"23456\" resizemode=\"4\" title=\"\" offsetvertical=\"0\" placeholdersrc=\"\" placeholdermsid=\"\" msid=\"\" type=\"thumb\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/129493222.cms\" data-api-prerender=\"true\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/sports\/cricket\/ipl\/top-stories\/ipl-2026-kl-rahul-to-lead-delhi-capitals-charge-from-the-top\/articleshow\/129632137.cms\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Delhi Capitals&#8217; KL Rahul celebrates his half century during an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 T20 cricket match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Delhi Capitals, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, in Bengaluru, Karnataka. (PTI File Photo) NEW DELHI: KL Rahul is all set to open for the Delhi Capitals in the 2026 Indian Premier League&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}