New Delhi: It came as a surprise to many as Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) appointed Rajat Patidar as their captain ahead of the much-anticipated Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. While many expected Virat Kohli to return as skipper after RCB didn’t go any outright captaincy contender at the IPL 2025 mega auction last year, the franchise had to look for options within the squad after the star batter declined the offer to lead the team again.
Patidar, who joined RCB as an injury replacement for Luvnith Sisodia after going unsold in IPL 2022, completed a remarkable journey as he took over the reins from Faf du Plessis, who was released by RCB ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction last year. Patidar has been rewarded for his consistent performances with the bat ever since he joined the franchise.
One of the reliable Indian batters in the current RCB line-up, Patidar quickly gained prominence among the RCB supporters after smashing 333 runs in just 8 matches, including a blistering century against Lucknow Super Giants. He slammed 395 runs in IPL 2024 last year and played a key role in helping RCB qualify for the playoffs despite a woeful start.
Why Virat Kohli refused RCB captaincy?
Patidar’s appointment might have come as a surprise to many but there were not many options within the squad that would have fit the bill as well as Patidar did. However, the question remains – Why not Virat Kohli? Kohli was reportedly all but set to return as captain for IPL 2025 after holding discussions with the team management last year.
RCB’s moves at the auction too made it quite clear that Kohli was locked in as captain. Despite going with one of the highest purses at the auction, RCB let go of the likes of KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant who were on the radars of almost all teams looking for a captaincy contender. Rahul being a local lad was a favourite for homecoming at RCB.
However, the franchise showed no interest in securing his services. Despite having held discussions last year, Kohli is believed to have made it clear to the team management recently that he didn’t intend to return as captain. Kohli’s refusal forced RCB to look for options within the squad, leading to Patidar emerging as a frontrunner for the leadership role.
Kohli could have refused captaincy to focus entirely on his batting like he has done in the last three seasons after giving up captaincy ahead of IPL 2022. Kohli has also benefited from batting without any additional baggage with a staggering 1721 runs in the last three seasons. The other possible reason for Kohli declining captaincy could be the signalling of change in terms of leadership in the IPL.
Almost all of Kohli’s contemporaries, including the legendary MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma are no longer in charge of their respective teams with young blood taking over. Thus, it would have made little sense for Kohli to return as captain at a time when the next-gen of IPL leaders are getting backed by their respective teams with the tournament heading into a new direction.
“I think Virat would have said no to the captaincy. He would have said ‘I want to focus on batting’. I think all this must have happened in consultation with Virat Kohli,” said former India batter Kris Srikkanth on RCB’s captaincy change.
What to expect from captain Rajat Patidar?
Patidar has played a firebrand of cricket as a batter and is expected to continue in a similar fashion as a leader. He has some experience behind his back having led Madhya Pradesh in the domestic circuit. Patidar also led Madhya Pradesh to the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy earlier this year where he almost single-handedly carried his side’s batting.
At RCB, he will hope to step up with the bat and also fine-tune his leadership skills while being around the likes of Kohli, Phil Salt, Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar among others in the squad. Patidar will also head into IPL 2025 with little expectations from fans as captain which will allow him to experiment and help RCB play the brand of cricket they are known for.
“Rajat Patidar is a good choice. He has been doing well in the IPL. The good things is he will not have a lot of expectations. When we appointed Dhoni in 2007 as the T20 World Cup captain, not a lot was expected of him and the team. It’s a bit like that…Expectations from Rajat Patidar as a captain are not high. He will take his own calls. He will consult Virat Kohli, who will be a guiding force,” said Srikkanth, explaining why Patidar is a great captaincy choice for RCB.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) recently appointed Indian batter Rajat Patidar as their new captain after Virat Kohli refused to return as skipper ahead of IPL 2025. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
