Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper Rajat Patidar entered his name in the history books on Sunday (May 31) by becoming the first player in the world to win two IPL titles in his first two seasons as captain
. Patidar was appointed RCB captain ahead of the IPL 2025 season, and he led the Bengaluru-based franchise to their maiden IPL title in 2025. In this year’s IPL, RCB successfully defended their title by getting the better of Gujarat Titans by five wickets in the final on Sunday.
IPL 2026 | Schedule | Results | Orange Cap | Purple Cap
RCB are only the third team in IPL history to win back-to-back IPL titles.
Teams to wins back-to-back IPL titles
| YEAR | TEAM | WINNING CAPTAIN | LOSING TEAM |
| 2010 | Chennai Super Kings | MS Dhoni | Mumbai Indians |
| 2011 | Chennai Super Kings | MS Dhoni | Royal Challengers Bengaluru |
| 2019 | Mumbai Indians | Rohit Sharma | Chennai Super Kings |
| 2020 | Mumbai Indians | Rohit Sharma | Delhi Capitals |
| 2025 | Royal Challengers Bengaluru | Rajat Patidar | Punjab Kings |
| 2026 | Royal Challengers Bengaluru | Rajat Patidar | Gujarat Titans |
Chennai Super Kings won back-to-back titles under MS Dhoni’s leadership in 2010 and 2011, while Rohit Sharma led Mumbai Indians to consecutive IPL titles in 2019 and 2020.
However, Patidar is the only captain to win two IPL titles in his first two seasons as captain.
Captains to win IPL title in maiden season as captain
| YEAR | CAPTAIN | TEAM |
| 2008 | Shane Warne | Rajasthan Royals |
| 2013 | Rohit Sharma | Mumbai Indians |
| 2022 | Hardik Pandya | Gujarat Titans |
| 2025, 2026* | Rajat Patidar | Royal Challengers Bengaluru |
In the 2026 edition of the IPL, Patidar played 15 matches for RCB and scored 501 runs. He finished the season as RCB’s second-highest run-scorer and slammed a total of 42 sixes, which is a record for the most sixes by a captain in a T20 tournament.
Rajat Patidar in IPL 2026
| RUNS | BALLS | 4/6s | AGAINST | VENUE | DATE |
| 31 | 12 | 2/3 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | Bengaluru | March 28 |
| 48* | 19 | 1/6 | Chennai Super Kings | Bengaluru | April 5 |
| 63 | 40 | 4/4 | Rajasthan Royals | Guwahati | April 10 |
| 53 | 20 | 4/5 | Mumbai Indians | Mumbai (WS) | April 12 |
| 27 | 13 | 1/3 | Lucknow Super Giants | Bengaluru | April 15 |
| 8 | 4 | 0/1 | Delhi Capitals | Bengaluru | April 18 |
| 8 | 5 | 0/1 | Gujarat Titans | Bengaluru | April 24 |
| DNB | – | – | Delhi Capitals | Delhi | April 27 |
| 19 | 15 | 2/1 | Gujarat Titans | Ahmedabad | April 30 |
| 61 | 31 | 3/6 | Lucknow Super Giants | Lucknow | May 7 |
| 8 | 8 | 1/0 | Mumbai Indians | Raipur | May 10 |
| 11 | 8 | 0/1 | Kolkata Knight Riders | Raipur | May 13 |
| 56 | 39 | 6/1 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | Hyderabad | May 22 |
| 93* | 33 | 5/9 | Gujarat Titans | Dharamsala | May 26 |
| 15 | 13 | 1/1 | Gujarat Titans | Ahmedabad | May 31 |
The tally of 501 runs by Patidar in IPL 2026 also helped him become only the second Indian batter after Virat Kohli to score 500 runs in a single edition of the IPL for RCB.
