The Royal Challengers Bengaluru became the eighth IPL franchise to announce their skipper for the 2025 season amidst much anticipation with Rajat Patidar set to take charge for the first time in franchise history. The revelation occurred at an event in Bengaluru titled “RCB Captain Yaaru” along with a video on social media showcasing audio bites from the different men to have led the team over the years, namely full-time skippers Rahul Dravid, Kevin Pietersen, Anil Kumble, Daniel Vettori, Virat kohli, and Faf du Plessis as well as stand-in skipper Shane Watson.
Rajat replaces Faf du Plessis at the helm who had been anointed to the role at the start of the previous cycle after being acquired for INR 7 crore at the 2022 mega auction. Under Faf, RCB qualified for the playoffs twice and narrowly missed out in 2023, but the 40-year-old’s age was a key factor in the team opting to go a different route for the upcoming three-year cycle. The other contenders for the role were Kohli, Krunal Pandya, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Rajat’s ascension to captaincy marks a poignant moment in the youngster’s career, having been released by the franchise after his debut season in 2021 and failing to attract a bid at the ensuing mega auction. However, the 31-year-old was recalled later as a replacement for the injured Luvnith Sisodia, and made dividends with a match-winning 112*(54) against Lucknow Super Giants in the playoffs, thus becoming the first uncapped player to achieve the feat. Injury ruled Patidar out for the entirety of the 2023 season but the middle-order spin destroyer returned with a bang last year, scoring five half-centuries in his run tally of 395 at a strike rate of 177.13.
Even though Patidar has never led in the IPL before, he has captained domestic side Madhya Pradesh 16 times in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and won on 12 of those occassion while losing four times. In 2024, Patidar had guided the team all the way to the final for just the second time in their history but ended up second-best to Mumbai.
In fact, this is only the second time RCB have appointed a budding Indian in the role after Virat Kohli in 2013, who had stepped down in 2021 citing workload and pressure management as the reasons for his decision. The veteran was expected to return to the role in what could be his last dance with Bengaluru and add to his 143 games as RCB captain in the IPL, during which he led the team to four playoffs including their third finals appearance in 2016 where they succumbed to the Sunrisers Hyderabad. However, when he had last served in a stand-in capacity for three games in the 2023, Kohli had expressed his desire to continue contributing to the team as a player rather than angle for the armband.
RCB are one of only three original IPL franchises to have never won the tournament alongwith Punjab and Delhi, making Patidar their latest hope of ending the long-standing voodoo.
