Rajat Patidar appointed new RCB captain for IPL 2025

Rajat Patidar has been with RCB for the past three seasons•AFP/Getty Images

Bengaluru, February 13 — Rajat Patidar has been appointed captain of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for IPL 2025, which begins on March 21. The development was contrary to wide expectation that Virat Kohli would lead RCB again after they did not retain Faf du Plessis, their captain from 2022 to 2024.

RCB made the announcement in Bengaluru on Thursday at an event attended by team director Mo Bobat, head coach Andy Flower, and Patidar. He is the eighth captain for RCB and has played three seasons for the franchise since joining them in 2021 and has grown into one of their key batters, scoring 799 runs in 28 matches at a strike rate of 158.85.

"There is a calmness to Rajat and that will stand Rajat in good stead, especially in the IPL," Flower said. "He is inherently a quiet guy, but he cares about the people around him in the dressing room. As a leader, those qualities are important."

Bobat confirmed that Kohli was an option the team management had thought about.

"Both Virat and Rajat were credible captaincy auctions," Bobat said. "We didn't want to go into the auctions with a captaincy option in mind.

"We wanted an Indian captain predominantly because this is an Indian competition. Of course, Virat was an option. [But] Virat does not need a captaincy title to lead. Even last year with Faf as captain, we have seen that."

Discussions within the group confirmed to the coaches that Patidar was the right choice, Bobat said.

"We spent some time discussing with DK [Dinesh Karthik, the batting coach]. We had multiple conversations with Virat. What struck [us] about Rajat was that he was very keen on leadership and captaincy," he said. "Watching Rajat and how he captained and played for MP [Madhya Pradesh, in the domestic circuit] was encouraging. We took inputs from Virat. There was compelling evidence that Rajat was a viable option."

Patidar, 31, was one of three players RCB retained ahead of the mega auction in November last year. While this will be his first captaincy stint in the IPL, he has captained MP in the 2024-25 seasons of the 20-over Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (where they finished runners-up) and the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy. Those tournaments were his first full-time assignments as captain in domestic cricket.

"I had a conversation with Mo last year," Patidar said. "I told him before getting the captaincy of RCB, I want to captain a state team. When they told me about this that it could be between Virat and Rajat, I was happy. I can't express my reaction."