Former Indian opener Kris Srikkanth slammed Axar Patel for his mundane performances after Delhi Capitals suffered a huge loss of nine wickets against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Monday.
Patel was dismissed for a three-ball duck against the defending champions as his team was skittled out for a paltry score of 75 runs. The left-hander has managed 31 runs in six innings at an average of 6.20 and a strike rate of 100 in the ongoing IPL 2026.
Patel has scalped seven wickets in eight matches of the ongoing season at an average of 28.57 and economy rate of 8.33.
Srikkanth said on his YouTube Channel, “He hasn’t done anything with the bat in a long time. Even as an all-rounder and captain, it’s been ages since he has done anything. When was the last time he did anything deadly with bat or ball? How can the team come up if this is the case?”
The 1983 World Cup winning player criticised Delhi Capitals batters for not playing impactful knocks for the team.
He added, “It’s been ages since Tristan Stubbs scored something substantial. Nitish Rana is a gone case when you bounce him. Sameer Rizvi struggles against fast or medium-fast bowling at the start of his innings. If he gets set after smashing some spinner for 20, he’ll play well then even against pacers. Miller has also done nothing impactful.”
Srikkanth questioned DC’s head coach Hemang Badani’s credentials after the former left-hander made surprising comments on CSK. Badani said that MS Dhoni deserves a lot of credit for the franchise’s success over the years and head coach Stephen Fleming has contributed little.
“Look at yourself first before commenting on others. This is why you should never loud mouth in life. He did, and now he has been shut up. Now everyone is criticizing him, and he has no option but to remain silent. He should have just minded his business instead of making claims about Fleming. What have you done? You’ve also not done anything special,” said Srikkanth (via the aforementioned source).
Delhi Capitals will next take on Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium, Jaipur, on Friday.
