Axar Patel Fined INR 12 Lakh for Slow Over Rate in DC’s Loss to MI

Delhi Capitals captain Axar Patel has been fined INR 12 lakh for maintaining a slow over rate during his team’s clash against Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2025 on Sunday night at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

This was Axar’s first offence of the season under the IPL’s Code of Conduct (Article 2.22), which mandates a fine of INR 12 lakh for a captain found guilty of a slow over rate. The IPL has revised its rules this season, doing away with match suspensions and instead imposing monetary penalties and in-game field restrictions for such offences.

Despite being in a strong position while chasing a target of 206, Delhi Capitals suffered a dramatic collapse. Karun Nair led the chase with a valiant 89 in his comeback innings, helping DC reach a promising position — 140 for 3 in the 12th over, needing just 66 runs off the final eight overs with seven wickets in hand. However, regular wickets and a chaotic hat-trick of run-outs in the penultimate over saw DC fall 12 runs short, marking their first defeat in five matches this season.

Reflecting on the loss, Axar said, “We had the game. I think we had soft dismissals from the middle order, some bad shots. We lost by 12 runs with an over to go, so we could have still won it. It can’t happen that your lower-order batters will always save you in chases. There are some odd days where you play wrong shots, so I don’t think there is any point in thinking too much about it.”

Axar joins a growing list of IPL 2025 captains and players penalized for slow over rates, which includes Hardik Pandya (MI), Riyan Parag and Sanju Samson (RR), and Rajat Patidar (RCB).