After a three-year stint of Faf du Plessis, RCB named Rajat Patidar as their captain ahead of IPL 2025.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) skipper Rajat Patidar has opened up about how their former captain Virat Kohli motivated him before handing him the franchise leadership ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. In a recent podcast, the 31-year-old spoke about the conversation he had with Kohli at the RCB unboxing event prior to receiving the plaque from him.
“I was completely blank, what should I do? He said, ‘you deserve it, you [have] earned it’. So I felt a little bit like, okay. I mean, when he said this to me, then I became normal in that situation,” he revealed.
The newly recruited skipper mentioned how he always keeps an eye on Kohli’s practice sessions to learn his techniques. The Madhya Pradesh batter also acknowledged Kohli’s rich experience and stated how the stalwart’s presence and support help him to better his leadership skills as well.
“Whenever he bats, I watch his batting. I learn as much as I can from him. For me, these are learnings. It is also an opportunity that I’m playing and now I have got the captaincy and he is with me. The amount of experience and ideas he has, no one else has the same,” said Patidar in the RCB podcast.
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Patidar has done a commendable job in his first year as the RCB captain. His team is placed second in the IPL 2025 points table with eight wins in 11 matches so far. Only net run rate has separated them from the table-topper Gujarat Titans.
They need at least two victories in their remaining three matches to secure a top-two finish in the league stage. However, Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood’s unavailability due to his shoulder injury might trouble RCB towards the business end of this season.
After a week of suspension due to the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, the Men in Red will kick off the IPL 2025 resumption on May 17. They will clash against the Kolkata Knight Riders at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.
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