Who would have thought that an injury replacement could become the most important and influential personality in Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s history? Absolutely no one. A franchise, that has played under the captaincies of arguably the best players across generations like Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, Kevin Pietersen and Virat Kohli, could not win a single title in its 18-year existence before Rajat Patidar took helm and changed it all forever.
The Indore-born batter has now become a 2-time IPL winning captain, joining an exclusive list of players like – MS Dhoni (5 titles with CSK), Rohit Sharma (5 titles with MI) and Gautam Gambhir (2 titles with KKR) – to win the cash rich league multiple times. While all these three names were highly experienced in terms of captaincy as well as high level cricket when they landed those silverwares, Rajat Patidar had none of it.
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He had only captained his state Madhya Pradesh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy before replacing Faf du Plessis as Bengaluru’s captain. Rajat Patidar was entering the 2025 season after losing the SMAT (domestic T20 tournament) final against Shreyas Iyer’s Mumbai.
Later that year, Patidar was retained by the RCB for 11 crores before taking over the reigns and becoming the most successful captain in the franchise’s history. Winning a title is one thing but a successful defense is what true champions do, something done for only the 4th time in IPL’s history.
MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir, Hardik Pandya and Rajat Patidar are all some of the exclusive names in IPL history. Yet there is something more to Patidar that differentiates him with the other iconic captains.
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MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma are on a different level with 5 titles each. Gautam Gambhir and Hardik Pandya were rather aggressive in their approach and Patidar does have some of it in his captaincy methods.
But what sets Patidar apart is leading by absolute example with the bat. His outstanding and much needed 93 off 33 balls in Qualifier 1 remains the highlight of RCB’s IPL 2026 run. Patidar’s next ambition will be to complete the hattrick, which will be a new motivation for the South Indian franchise.
Notably, Rajat Patidar is also just the 4th captain to win the IPL title in his 1st attempt. It’s an exclusive list featuring the legendary late Shane Warne, Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya. Warne’s antics as Rajasthan Royals’ captain in the inaugural IPL edition back in 2008 remains the franchise’s only instance of lifting the trophy.
For Rohit Sharma, it all started in 2013 when he was handed Mumbai Indians’ captaincy in the middle of IPL, taking over from current Punjab Kings head coach Ricky Ponting. MI had lost most of their matches in the beginning of the season but they went on to win their maiden title after Rohit’s appointment.
One of Rohit Sharma’s core players, during MI’s dominance over the last decade (post 2013), Hardik Pandya won his first shot at the IPL title on his captaincy debut with Gujarat Titans in 2022. He was on the verge of doing the double next year but they were ultimately stopped by the Chennai Super Kings.
Winning back-to-back titles or even reaching the finals reflects a team’s commitment and addiction to make winning a habit. Rajat Patidar has certainly fulfilled those parameters. He has kept the team together and operating at its best very best.
A key reason behind the completeness of Rajat Patidar as captain is his own form. Last season he could only score 312 runs in 15 matches but this year, in RCB’s title defense, the 32-year-old made a major contribution, scoring 501 runs in the same number of games, including a blistering and unforgettable 93 not-out off 33 balls in Qualifier 1 against this year’s runners-up GT.
RCB has won 22 out of 32 matches under Rajat Patidar’s leadership with a win percentage of 73.33%. They have won 9 league matches each in 2025 and 2026 along with win across Qualifiers and the final.
Certainly he has the potential and why wouldn’t RCB even think of Rajat Patidar as their captain for at least 5 more years. Along with Dinesh Karthik and Andy Flower, Patidar has formed a solid unit which has experience and unpredictability. A 73.33% win rate is exceptional for a captain with no prior experience. By the looks of it, Patidar and RCB both are just getting started.
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