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I want to start with a number. Thirty-three. That is how many runs Axar Patel has scored across ten innings in IPL 2026. Not 33 in one game, 33 across the entire first half of the season.
Three years ago he made 283 runs in 13 innings and was becoming one of the most reliable lower-order finishers in the competition. Two years ago it was 235. Last year it was 263.
This year it is 33 and a sequence of scores that reads 0, 2, 1, 26 not out retired hurt, 2, 0, 2, with the 26 not out being the only time he has done anything remotely useful with the bat, and even that ended prematurely when he had to leave the field.
Tonight against CSK he made 2 off 6 balls and left Delhi reeling at 75 for 5. As a story of statistical collapse there are few rivals for it in IPL history for a player of his calibre.
The Axar Patel's numbers that make you do a double take
Let me put the comparison side by side because it deserves to be seen clearly. In 2023 Axar averaged 30.73 with the bat. In 2024 it was 30.64. In 2025, his first year as Delhi captain, it jumped to an extraordinary 57.60 as he transformed himself into one of the most dangerous middle-order batters in the competition.
In 2026 he is averaging 3.30. His strike rate this season is 89.18 which for a player who built his reputation on explosive hitting in the death overs is almost incomprehensible. He has not crossed two runs in any innings other than the one against RCB where he was forced to retire hurt on 26. Every other time he has walked to the crease this season, the outcome has been the same, a brief, futile stay and an early walk back to the pavilion.
The bowling and DC captaincy are feeling the strain too
What makes this situation particularly dangerous for Delhi Capitals is that Axar's value to this team was never just his batting. He is their captain, their primary spinner, their tactical brain and their most experienced voice in a dressing room that has needed leadership more than almost anything else this season.
And the strain of his batting failure is visibly bleeding into those other roles. His bowling economy has climbed to 8.54 compared to a career average of 7.41, not catastrophic but meaningful when your primary value is stifling scoring and breaking partnerships.
He has taken just eight wickets in nine matches and gone wicketless while conceding 32 against Gujarat in a game that highlighted how the captaincy burden and the personal form crisis are feeding off each other in a damaging loop.
After consecutive heavy losses to RCB and Rajasthan Royals, Axar himself admitted to being shell-shocked and unable to identify why the team's form had dropped so suddenly. That kind of public honesty is admirable but also alarming, a captain who cannot explain to the media what has gone wrong is usually also struggling to explain it to himself.
His attribution of DC's collapses to hesitation and bad luck has led to real questions about whether the team's collective loss of confidence is a direct reflection of what their captain is going through personally.
The powerplay numbers that embarrass everyone
Whatever is happening with Axar individually, the collective failure of Delhi Capitals in the powerplay this season is a separate and equally serious problem that he cannot escape responsibility for as captain.
DC have lost 21 wickets in the first six overs this season, the highest of any team in the competition. Their powerplay run rate of 8.35 is the lowest in the tournament. Their dot ball percentage of 46.4 is the highest.
By every meaningful metric they are the worst powerplay team in IPL 2026 and that is the phase of the game where matches are most frequently won and lost. A captain who is simultaneously averaging 3.30 with the bat and presiding over the league's worst powerplay record is dealing with a crisis on two fronts simultaneously and the weight of both is showing.
What can actually be done?
Here is my honest assessment of the situation. Axar Patel is a brilliant cricketer who is clearly going through the worst form of his career at the worst possible time.
The captaincy pressure and the batting failure are connected, you can see it in his body language at the crease where he looks like a man trying too hard, thinking too much and trusting his instincts too little.
The 26 not out against RCB before he retired hurt was a glimpse of what he can still do, that innings had flow and confidence and timing. Everything since has looked like a batter carrying enormous weight. DC cannot afford to drop him, he is the captain and their best spinner and there is no obvious replacement for what he does.
But they need to find a way to take some of the pressure off him with the bat, batting him higher where he has more time to settle, or at the very least accepting that his value this season is primarily going to come from the ball rather than the bat.
The problem is that DC are in a position where they need him to contribute in every area simultaneously and right now he simply cannot.
