Who Is Rajat Patidar?: Rajat Patridar has been named the new captain of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) franchise ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season. Patidar, succeeding Faf du Plessis as the team’s skipper, initially joined RCB in 2021 but was released and then went unsold in the 2022 auction, only to return as a replacement in the same season and has now risen to lead the franchise.
While other names like Virat Kohli and Krunal Pandya were also in the mix for RCB’s captaincy race, Patidar became the eighth RCB captain in IPL history.
Who Is rajat Patidar, RCB’s New Captain?
Born on June 1, 1983 in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, Rajat Patidar made a name for himself as a reliable batter in domestic cricket before making an impression in the IPL. He has played 63 innings in List A games, scoring 2,211 runs with a strike rate of 99.59 and an average of 37.47. 158 runs is his highest individual score in this particular format. Furthermore, Patidar has participated in 116 innings of First-Class games, scoring 4,738 runs at an average of 43.07 and a strike rate of 54.96.
Patidar made his IPL debut in 2021 but was released ahead of the 2022 season and went unsold at the auction. However, an injury to Luvinth Sisodia during the 2022 season opened the door for his return to RCB as a replacement player. He seized the opportunity, scoring 333 runs in 8 innings, including a century in the playoffs, and has since emerged as a key member of RCB’s middle order. Patidar has participated in 27 IPL games as of now, having scored 799 runs at an average of 34.74 at an impressive strike rate of 158.85. He was one of the three retentions for RCB ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auctions, apart from Virat Kohli and Yash Dayal. He was retained for INR 11 Crore.
Although this will be his first time leading a team in the IPL, Patidar has already captained Madhya Pradesh in the 2024-25 season of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, where they finished as runners-up, and the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
