RCB's Batting Coach Reveals Two Reasons Why Rajat Patidar Was Appointed As Captain For IPL 2025
Rajat Patidar, who made his IPL debut in 2021 and has 799 runs to his name in 29 matches played so far, was appointed as RCB captain for IPL 2025 on February 13.
Indian Premier League side Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Thursday, February 13, appointed star India batter Rajat Patidar as the new captain. The 31-year-old right-handed batter from Madhya Pradesh, who made his IPL debut in the 2021 season, was retained by the Bengaluru-based franchise ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction for Rs 11 crore. He will be the eighth player to lead RCB in the world’s richest franchise cricket league.
Patidar’s appointment as RCB captain came as a surprise for millions of fans as they were expecting Virat Kohli to take charge of the team once again.
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Rajat, who made his international debut for India in December 2023 during an ODI match against South Africa, has 799 runs to his name in 27 IPL matches played so far. He scored 395 runs in 15 matches last year and had missed the 2023 season due to an injury.
During Cricbuzz’s Hey CB with DK show, former Indian wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik, who is associated with RCB in the IPL as batting coach and mentor, revealed two reasons why 31-year-old Patidar was picked for the leadership role by the three-time losing finalists.
According to Kartik, Patidar very well led Madhya Pradesh in the domestic season, and the players had to say a lot of good things about the way he captained the side, so because of that, the RCB team management decided to give him the charge.
“The way he led Madhya Pradesh during the domestic season was fantastic. A lot of good things players had to say about the way he led the team. So that really encouraged us, and we wanted a new leader considering it’s a fresh group of players and it’s going to be a fresh cycle as well. These two things prompted us to make Rajat our captain," Karthik said.
Patidar was the captain of the Madhya Pradesh team that finished as runners-up in the 2024 edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy. He scored 428 runs with a strike rate of 186.08 and an average of 61.14 in 10 matches to finish as the second leading run-getter in the tournament. In the semifinal match against Delhi, Patidar remained unbeaten on 66 runs from 29 balls (4 fours, 6 sixes), and in the final against Mumbai, he hammered 81 runs from 40 balls (6 fours, 6 sixes).
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