“Are you kidding?”
That would have been your reaction if anyone had told you, even as late as 2022, that Rajat Patidar would be the man who, as a leader of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), would guide them to their first IPL title win. For years, an IPL trophy and RCB felt poles apart, no matter how many legends came and went. It finally felt real in 2025, when the Indore lad took charge and scripted history.
But before glorifying Patidar as the supreme commander, rewind five seasons. RCB had released him after 2021 and showed no interest in the 2022 mega auction. The script flipped when an injury to Luvnith Sisodia opened the door, and RCB brought Patidar back at his base price, even forcing him to delay his wedding.
Then came the night that
changed everything. His unbeaten 122 against Lucknow Super Giants in the Eliminator powered RCB to the brink of the final. They still fell short, but in Patidar, they had found something far more valuable.
Two years later, when Patidar was crowned as the new leader, a few eyebrows were raised. But what unfolded since then is purely magical. Lifting the IPL 2025 doesn’t seem to be his final destination. He wants the show to go on. As of now, the defending champions sit second in IPL 2026, with five wins in seven matches. Virat Kohli is the team’s top-scorer, and the skipper is second with 238 runs struck at a brilliant strike-rate of 210.61 – currently the fourth highest among those with 200 or more runs this season so far.
While the eyes are squarely focused on the exploits of young IPL prodigies, Patidar is silently slaying in the middle-overs. And the data suggests that the position is a tailor-made situation for him.
Patidar’s numbers in the middle overs quietly place him among the most destructive batters in the phase. With a strike-rate of 162.5 and 780 runs off 480 balls, he sits alongside names like Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Nicholas Pooran, both known for dictating terms through this period.
Patidar is not just keeping up with the best in the business; he is outpacing several of them. In a phase where most batters look to build, Patidar is accelerating.
Chandrakant Pandit, the former KKR head coach, has seen Patidar’s growth firsthand in the Madhya Pradesh camp. Pandit reckons Patidar’s consistency without compromising control sets him apart.
“If you ask me, having known Rajat for so many years, there hasn’t been much change in him. Definitely, consistency has come. But when I say there are no major changes, I mean the ability he has now, he had it back then as well,” Pandit tells News18 Cricketnext.
“People have started noticing him now. In domestic cricket, especially in white-ball formats, he has always been an aggressive, attacking player who can dominate any bowling. Against spin, he picks line and length very quickly. That is why it becomes very difficult to bowl to him. Even a good delivery can be hit for four because of how quickly he reads it,” he added.
Even RCB batting coach and mentor Dinesh Karthik believes that Patidar is a prime example of a cricketer constantly raising his own bar. Calm and composed by nature, he is also deeply reflective, someone who reviews his game at the end of every season, identifies areas for improvement, and works on them diligently.
“We are in constant touch and he sends me some videos as to what he’s practicing and he’s always on the money and you can see the output when he does bat because he’s, as we all know, he’s batting in a very special manner and the way he’s able to dominate bowlers right from the outset is a sight to watch,” Karthik said in the press conference on the eve of DC vs RCB face-off in Delhi.
Patidar is known to be one of the calmest and most relaxed individuals, someone who absorbs information effectively and translates it into impactful performances on the field. The same character goes into his leadership in the IPL.
The boy from Indore has been making a serious impact as captain with numbers that demand attention. In a sample of 30 matches or fewer in IPL as captain, his leadership stands out with a 75% win rate (15 wins in 20 games), comfortably ahead of the likes of former RCB leaders like Anil Kumble (57.69%) and Daniel Vettori (54.54%).
The contender closest to Patidar in terms of leading the team regularly is Axar Patel. However, the gap between their captaincy results is huge.
In terms of overall win percentage, Patidar leads by a fair margin among RCB’s nine captains, though the sample size varies significantly. In that context, Kohli’s record stands out. The former skipper led RCB in 143 matches, winning 66 of them. He remains the only captain to have led the side in over 100 games, making his numbers truly unmatched. Among the rest, Faf du Plessis ranks second in matches led, followed by Anil Kumble and Daniel Vettori.
As Karthik describes, Patidar is composed, clear in his thinking, and knows exactly what he’s doing. When the pressure peaks, he holds his nerve and makes the right calls for the moment. That’s all you ask from a leader.
“His strength is the fact that he has the respect in the room, and he has a nice way of handling all his bowlers,” Karthik said. “He is not too confused, he’s very relaxed, he has a good lieutenant in Jitesh Sharma who guides him in the game and some extraordinary senior players in the likes of Virat Kohli, Josh Hazlewood, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who are very, very senior, good pros who give him a helping hand whenever it’s required.”
Not only did Rajat become the first captain last year to lead RCB to their maiden IPL title, but he also proved his mettle in the domestic circuit as well. In the 2024-25 season, he led Madhya Pradesh to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final, but unfortunately, his team lost to Mumbai. He was the second-highest scorer, amassing 428 runs in nine innings at a strike rate of 186.08, including a tournament-high 27 sixes.
“From whatever I have seen in the last 4-5, even 5-6 years with him, he has always been like that. He is a very good observer, and that is how he has learnt his game,” said Pandit.
“Unfortunately, we lost to Mumbai, but he showed leadership qualities. That confidence carried into the IPL. Reaching finals, then winning the IPL, all of it builds immense confidence. And that reflects in his batting. When he goes out to bat, he knows he is the boss.”
“When you are leading, your thought process becomes, ‘I have to do it, I have to take the team forward, I have to score runs.’ That brings extra energy, motivation, and confidence. So yes, leadership definitely brings the best out of him,” Pandit concluded.
