Rajat Patidar becomes RCB's eighth captain in IPL
What's the story
In a major development, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have named Rajat Patidar as their captain for the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) season. The Royal Challengers earlier announced that a new skipper will be announced on February 13. Notably, Patidar helped Madhya Pradesh get to the final of the 2024/25 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Here are further details.
Twitter Post
The official announcement
The next captain of RCB is…
— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) February 13, 2025
Many greats of the game have carved a rich captaincy heritage for RCB, and it’s now time for this focused, fearless and fierce competitor to lead us to glory! This calmness under pressure and ability to take on challenges, as he’s shown us in the… pic.twitter.com/rPY2AdG1p5
Captaincy
Patidar replaces Faf du Plessis
Patidar has replaced Faf du Plessis, who was released by the Royal Challengers following IPL 2024. He captained the side in the previous few seasons. Therefore, the Royal Challengers had a task of naming a new captaincy candidate. Virat Kohli, who successfully led the franchise in the past, is believed to have denied the role. This led to Patidar's appointment.
Patidar
Eighth player to lead RCB
Patidar will become the eighth player to lead RCB in the IPL. He joins Kohli, du Plessis, Anil Kumble, Daniel Vettori, Rahul Dravid, Kevin Pietersen, and Shane Watson. Patidar made his IPL debut in 2021. With 27 caps for RCB, he has racked up 799 runs at a strike-rate of 158.85. Patidar was retained by RCB along with Kohli and Yash Dayal.
SMAT
Patidar stole the show SMAT 2024/25
As mentioned, Patidar helped MP get to 2024/25 SMAT final where they lost to Mumbai. The Indian batter hammered a ferocious 81*(40) in the final. He slammed six fours and six sixes (SR: 202.50). In 10 SMAT matches (9 innings), Patidar slammed 428 runs at 61.14 (50s: 5). In addition to 32 fours, he smashed 27 sixes.
Information
RCB squad for IPL 2025
Squad: Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Devdutt Padikkal, Swastik Chhikara, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Liam Livingstone, Krunal Pandya, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethell, Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Dar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Nuwan Thushara, Yash Dayal, Lungi Ngidi, Abhinandan Singh, Suyash Sharma, Mohit Rathee.
Title
Will Patidar end RCB's quest for IPL title?
With their eighth captaincy appointment, RCB would hope to end their IPL title quest. The Royal Challengers have finished as the runners-up thrice (2009, 2011, and 2016). They have also reached the playoffs in four of their last five seasons. RCB had a miraculous IPL 2024 campaign as they made the top four despite losing just one of their first eight games.