Kolkata : Rajat Patidar officially becomes 8th IPL skipper of Royal Challengers Bengaluru, ending speculations of legend Virat Kohli returning to leadership roles.
Patidar is an experienced captain in domestic circuit having captained Madhya Pradesh for years in Syed Mushtaq Ali and Vijay Hazare Trophy. He guided Madhya Pradesh in SMAT 2024-25 final and was also 2nd run scorer of the tournament. However, they lost the final to Mumbai, but it was Patidar who with great valour displayed his captaincy and Batting abilities.
He has been an integral part of RCB especially since 2021 , and featured in 27 IPL matches, scoring 799 runs at impressive strike rate of 159. Patidar, Yash Dayal, Virat Kohli were the 3 players retained by RCB this season.
Why Rajat Patidar as RCB Captain?
After Faf Du Plessis, the previous season’s captain wasn’t retained, speculations related to Virat Kohli returning to captaincy roles spread.
However, RCB made the announcement of Patidar becoming the new captain in IPL 2025 at Bengaluru on Thursday at an event attended by team director Mo Bobat, head coach Andy Flower, and Patidar.
Flower pointed out 3 things for which Patidar was chosen as this season’s captain – His calmness and simplicity, secondly, caring for his teammates, for which everyone around respects him, thirdly stubbornness.
“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,” Flower said. “The first one is there’s a calmness and a simplicity to Rajat that I think will stand him in really good stead as a leader and a captain, particularly in the IPL. As we know, the IPL is one of the premier competitions in the world and there’s pressures involved in that, and I think the calm, simple demeanour that inherently lives within Rajat is going to serve him really well in the hurly burly of that tournament”.
“And his decision-making will be tested like all of ours is. But I think these qualities will stand him in really good stead. We watched Rajat very closely as he captained Madhya Pradesh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament and we really liked what we saw around those qualities”.
“The second thing I’d say about him, he’s inherently quite a quiet guy, but observing him, he cares about the people around him, he cares about the people that he plays with, that he shares a dressing room with. And I think that’s a quality that means that he will instantly have the respect and care from other people. As a leader, those qualities are important. In that people will follow you and get behind you”.
“And then the third thing that stands out for me about him is that he’s got a stubbornness and a strength and a steeliness about him. I’ve seen it myself when I’m trying to coach him in the nets and he won’t listen to me, but you see it in the way that he plays. You see the bravery with which he takes on the game and I think that quality within him will be really important for him through the ups and downs, the inevitable ups and downs that come along with playing in the IPL, and now stepping up another gear into leading a big franchise in the IPL.”
‘Virat Kohli was an option’ – Mo Bobat
Team director Mo Bobat also confirmed that legendary Batter Virat Kohli was also an option for RCB leadership along with Patidar, among their 3 retentions.
According to Bobat, apart from the utmost love of the team for Patidar, a seasoned campaigner like Virat Kohli doesn’t need the tag of captain. The leadership quality comes naturally to him and regardless of the position, he leads in the field, as was seen when Faf Du Plessis was the captain in previous seasons. Kohli even led as stand in captain when Faf was out with injury.
“With our retentions, it’s probably worth noting that we obviously retained three players, three Indians, and of those three it’s worth saying that both Virat and Rajat were obviously credible captaincy options for us going into the auction,” he said. “And then at the auction itself, we spent quite a lot of time thinking about leadership characteristics. We didn’t necessarily want to go into the auction and have our heart set on a captain because we felt that was quite a dangerous approach and then you end up probably overvaluing somebody potentially”.
“Of course, Virat was an option, that goes without saying, and I know that the fans would’ve probably leant towards Virat in the first instance, but we’ve seen a lot of love for Rajat too. My point on Virat would be that Virat doesn’t need a captaincy title to lead. I think leadership is one of his strongest instincts. I think it just comes naturally to him. He leads regardless. Even last year with Faf captain, we saw every bit of that.”
Coaches and Management wanted Patidar as captain
Bobat said that RCB management group with likes of Batting coach Dinesh Karthik, Flower had multiple conversations with Kohli and Patidar. After that they found Patidar determined and ambitious for taking up leadership role for the franchise.
“We spent some time discussing things with the likes of DK [Dinesh Karthik, the batting coach], who’s obviously a really important part of our management team now. [We] had multiple conversations with Virat, even had some discussions with Rajat and I say discussions, they probably felt a little bit more like interviews for Rajat. But Andy and I spent some time talking to Rajat about his captaincy aspirations and what struck us was that he was very determined and ambitious about leadership and captaincy and he really wanted to do this and that was really important for us to understand and feel”, Bobat said.
Moreover, management wanted an Indian captain, as this is a tournament which is played in Indian conditions, so someone with great local Cricketing knowledge is beneficial.
“Andy and I felt quite blessed that we had quite a few to choose from. Whether we went Indian or overseas was an important discussion point for us. We felt quite strongly that an Indian captain was preferable“, Bobat said.
“That’s nothing against any overseas options, but we were really keen on an Indian option primarily because it’s an Indian competition on Indian pitches against predominantly Indian players. So somebody who’s got that local knowledge and insight is really, really helpful for us“, Bobat concluded.
Is choosing Patidar over Kohli as RCB captai actually a tactical move?
Not choosing Virat Kohli as captain can also mean a tactical move. There’s no denying Kohli’s legacy at RCB. He has led the side for a decade and under his captaincy, RCB reached the playoffs multiple times and even made it to the final in 2016, a peak year for Kohli redefined where he ended the season with staggering 973 runs but lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad in the final. Kohli led RCB in 143 Matches and won 66 off them, however, didn’t win IPL Trophy even after coming close.
After Kohli stepped down from the role in 2021, the team found another good leader in Faf, but still didn’t touch their maiden IPL title. Therefore, RCB appointed a fresh young skipper who also has domestic leadership experience. While Kohli, will guide the team along with him, with Bat and on field.
Patidar’s appointment as captain is not only a tactical effort to win maiden Trophy but also getting a long term option as leader.
RCB SQUAD IN IPL 2025
Batters: Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar (C), Devdutt Padikkal, Swastik Chhikara.
Wicketkeepers: Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma.
All-rounders: Liam Livingstone, Krunal Pandya, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethell.
Fast bowlers: Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Dar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Nuwan Thushara, Yash Dayal, Lungi Ngidi, Abhinandan Singh.
Spinners: Suyash Sharma, Mohit Rathee.
