Patidar led RCB to their maiden IPL title in 2025
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) director of cricket Mo Bobat on Friday revealed that appointing Rajat Patidar as the captain ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 was a move planned almost a year before their triumphant season.
Bobat said in an interview with Cricbuzz that the thought occurred to the leadership group during the IPL 2024 as they had consulted their longest-serving captain Virat Kohli about it.
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Kohli gave his blessing which then got RCB to go plan the next few months to ease Patidar into captaincy.
“We spoke to Virat that Rajat was going to be new to captaincy. And Virat said, ‘Look, 100 per cent, I’m there to help. It’s in all our interests if Rajat succeeds. Lets give this a go,’” Bobat told Cricbuzz.
After that, Patidar was encouraged to lead Madhya Pradesh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024 where he led them to the final, which included a stunning knock of 66 not out off 29 balls against Delhi in the semifinal.
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MP were struggling at 46/3 in chase of 147 when Patidar took charge of the innings and smashed six sixes and four boundaries to lead them to an easy victory with 26 balls to spare.
Earlier in the group stages, MP defended a target of 180 against a rampaging Punjab side led by Abhishek Sharma and won by nine runs. Despite being outclassed by Rajasthan in their fifth group game, MP won all their matches until the final.
As a signal of their faith in him, RCB retained Patidar for INR 11 crore and announced him as the captain according to their plan. It was contrary to the belief that the franchise releasing former skipper Faf du Plessis as well as being unable to sign experienced campaigners in the auction led to Patidar’s appointment.
RCB squad’s cohesive strength was apparent from the opening few games of the season as they beat defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders as well as beat bitter rivals Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Mumbai Indians on their home turfs and then beat Punjab Kings in the final.
