Rajat Patidar led RCB to their maiden IPL title earlier this year.
Veteran India pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar was all praise for the way Rajat Patidar guided Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to their maiden IPL title earlier this year. Bhuveshwar, who was part of RCB’s title-winning IPL 2025 campaign, added that Patidar took the right decisions at the right time, and that went a long way in RCB being crowned IPL champions.
“His (Rajat Patidar’s captaincy) was very good. The best thing was that we had a very experienced team, and Rajat did not have much to do. And another thing is that he didn’t interfere much. But, in circumstances when the team needed his leadership at the ground, he took the right decisions then and there,” the Uttar Pradesh cricketer said during a recent episode of the Talk with Manvendra podcast.
He also noted that while a few players hesitate to make big decisions because of the presence of experienced players, the Madhya Pradesh cricketer did not hesitate. In this case, Royal Challengers Bengaluru had the likes of former captain Virat Kohli and all-rounder Krunal Pandya in the squad.
“Because, sometimes when there are senior players who are experienced in the team, the captain hesitates to make decisions. But, Rajat did not hesitate. That’s the quality of his leadership. He knew when he was required to interfere in the decision-making and when he was not required,” added the 35-year-old pacer.
Patidar has been with Royal Challengers Bengaluru since 2021, which was his debut IPL season. In 42 matches across four seasons, the 32-year-old has scored 1,111 runs at a strike-rate of 154.31, including one century and nine fifties.
He missed IPL 2023 because of an Achilles heel injury. Patidar also has captaincy experience in domestic cricket, having led Madhya Pradesh. He led Madhya Pradesh to the final of the 2024 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, where they lost to Mumbai by five wickets. Thus, Patidar’s unbeaten 81 runs off 40 balls eventually went in vain.
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Coming back to IPL 2025, Royal Challengers Bengaluru qualified for the IPL 2025 playoffs after finishing second in the standings with 19 points from 14 matches. This was the same as league leaders Punjab Kings (PBKS), with only the Net Run Rate (NRR) separating the two sides. After getting the better of Punjab Kings in Qualifier 1, Patidar and Co defended their total of 190/9 against the same opposition in the final, winning the summit clash by six runs.
The IPL 2026 season is scheduled to begin in March next year, and Royal Challengers Bengaluru will hope to defend their title. The IPL 2026 auction is scheduled to take place in a few months’ time. The date of the IPL 2026 mini-auction is yet to be announced.
