The 31-year-old middle order batsman Rajat Patidar has been named Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) captain for the forthcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) season. The franchise made the news Thursday, February 13, during a ceremony held at the KSCA.
Prior to the 2025 season, the Bengaluru franchise was without a captain after releasing Faf du Plessis, who had led the team in prior seasons. Patidar, who earlier this season guided Madhya Pradesh to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final, will take over as RCB’s eighth captain.
Regarding his captaincy and recalling the beginning of the leadership discussions, Patidar stated: “I believe I spoke with Mo [Bobat, RCB director of cricket] about this last year. Are you interested in taking on the role of captain? Mo inquired. I thus informed him that I would want to captain the state team before captaining the RCB. I then received a suggestion that they may promote me to captain. Along with that, I was a bit pleased that I could still clearly sense the trip from where I began my IPL career.
Since making his IPL debut in 2021, Patidar has been a member of the team. Patidar has played in 27 games for RCB, scoring 799 runs with a strike rate of 158.85.
He can easily dominate speed and spin. He, along with Virat Kohli and Yash Dayal, was one of RCB’s three retainers before to the massive auction. It cost INR 11 crore to keep him.
He didn’t sell at the auctions, though the team cut him before the 2022 campaign. Due to Luvinth Sisodia’s regrettable injury during the 2022 season, the RCB gave Patidar another opportunity to play as a substitute. With 333 runs in 8 innings, including a century, he left a lasting impact and has since grown to be a vital member of the team.
Under Kohli’s leadership, RCB qualified for the 2015 playoffs and finished second the following year, during which the star batsman amassed a record 973 runs. In 2020 and 2021, they also made it to the playoffs. In the 2022–24 cycle, when du Plessis took over as captain after Kohli resigned, Royal Challengers also qualified for the playoffs in two of those seasons. While du Plessis was recuperating from a rib ailment and only played as an Impact Player, the veteran Indian hitter commanded the team in three games in 2023.
“I could speak for quite a long time about Rajat, but I’ve settled on three main things that I thought might be interesting to share,” Andy Flower, the head coach, stated. The first is that, in my opinion, Rajat’s composure and simplicity will serve him well as a captain and leader, especially in the IPL. There are pressures associated with the IPL, which is one of the world’s top contests, as is well known. And I believe that Rajat’s natural calm, straightforward manner will work to his advantage in the early stages of that competition.
His judgment will face the test, just like everyone else’s, but I believe these traits will serve him well. As Rajat led Madhya Pradesh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali competition, we kept a careful eye on him and felt impressed by his attributes.
The second thing I would say about him is that, although he is naturally a quiet person, it is clear from watching him that he cares about those around him.
“The guys he plays with and shares a dressing room with are important to him. In my opinion, that is a feature that indicates others will immediately respect and care for him. As a leader, those attributes are crucial because they inspire followers to follow and support you. After that, the third thing that strikes me about him is that he has a steeliness, strength, and tenacity.
“I’ve personally witnessed it happen when I try to instruct him in the nets and he refuses to listen. However, it’s evident in his playing style. “You can see how courageous he is when playing the game,” Flower continued And I believe that he has a characteristic that will be crucial for him to endure the ups and downs that are unavoidable while playing in the IPL and now taking on the role of captain of a major IPL team for another year. Therefore, I believe that Rajat will benefit much from such attributes. We are aware of them.
Read More: RCB to announce captain on Feb 13: Is Virat Kohli taking up role in IPL 2025?
