New Delhi: Delhi Capitals skipper Axar Patel missed their all-important IPL 2025 clash against Mumbai Indians on Wednesday. The all-rounder sat out the game because of illness at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Delhi picked veteran Faf du Plessis as their stand-in skipper. The South African won the toss and elected to bowl against.

“He has been really sick in the last two days. We’ll miss him today. Axar is two players and it’s difficult to replace him. We’ll see how it goes,” Du Plessis said at the toss.

“If you ask any team, the last game of the season, you have a crack to get to the top four, you’ll smile and you’ll grab that opportunity with both hands. Playing a good team today, we are ready for it.

“We haven’t been at our best in the last 5-6 games. Everyday there’s a new opportunity,. Looks a bit different to a normal Wankhede wicket, a bit dry, so we’re sticking with the tone of the campaign and chasing.

“Axar is not there, Axar is two players – fantastic spinner and a great batter, so it’s difficult to replace that. We don’t have a like-for-like. We’ll see how it goes,” he added.

Du Plessis has earlier led Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL.

Mumbai picked Mitchel Santner in place of Corbin Bosch in their playing XI. Mumbai need a win to qualify for the play-offs while Delhi must wi n to kee their hopes of entering the last four stage alive.

Mumbai are placed fouth in the 10-team standings with 14 points from 12 games while Delhi are a slot below with a point less.

Teams:

DELHI CAPITALS (Playing XI): FAF DU PLESS (C), Abishek Porel (W), Sameer Rizvi, Ashutosh Sharma, Tristan Stubs, Dushmantha Chameera, Vipraj Nigam, Madhav Tiwari, Kuldeep Yadav, Mustafizur rahman, mukesh kumar

Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Ryan Rickelton (W), Rohit Sharma, will jacks, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (C), Naman Dhir, Mithell Santner, Mitchell Santner, Mittell Bumrah.