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The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) scripted history in the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, as they went on to become back-to-back champions, winning their first trophy in 2025 and second in 2026. They become the third team after Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Mumbai Indians (MI) to defend the trophy. Rajat Patidar’s RCB has completely changed the team’s dynamics.
Rajat Patidar joined this team in the 2022 season as a replacement and scored a hundred in the Eliminator against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). However, he was ruled out of the IPL 2023, and following that, in 2024, he arrived as a batter and played well. In the next year, Rajat was handed over the captaincy, and in his debut season as captain, he led RCB to their first trophy.
Is Rajat Patidar the best captain for RCB?
He ended 18 years drought and the pain of the RCB fans beating the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. In the following season, his team was unstoppable, finished at the top of the points table, and defeated GT in the final at the same venue a few months back.
Rajat Patidar, as a captain, has led the team in 27 matches, securing 19 wins and 8 losses for an exceptional win percentage of 70%, the highest for any captain in IPL history (minimum 25 matches).
Rajat Patidar was snubbed from the India call-up
He became the first captain in IPL history to win titles in each of his first two seasons. Rajat, except for his captaincy, had a stellar season with the bat as well; this was his best IPL season in terms of stats.
The middle-order batter scored 501 runs in 15 matches with an average of 41.75 and had a strike rate of 192.69, which was incredible to watch for the fans and the management. Smacking 5 half-centuries in the process. However, an amazing season, but he was not called up for the T20I series for India.
Rajat has been a pleasure to work with – Mo Bobat on working with Rajat Patidar
Now the director of cricket for RCB, Mo Bobat, has opened up about his captain speaking about Rajat’s personality and how he has changed the dressing-room atmosphere since taking over the leadership role from Faf du Plessis. He also stated that nobody thought that the franchise would need such an ice-cool captain, citing Virat Kohli, as he was always aggressive on the field.
“Rajat has been a pleasure to work with. He’s a very unique person; I don’t think I know anybody like him. Totally unfazed by almost anything that he encounters. He’s been totally unaffected by getting the RCB captaincy whatsoever you just wouldn’t know it. Incredible humility as a man,” he said in a video shared by RCB.
“Who would have thought maybe what RCB needed was a super-calm, ice-cool captain? But he’s been brilliant. I’ve really respected the way he’s carried himself as a person. He’s a very good man. I think when your captain has those sorts of values and that level of integrity, it’s good role modelling for the rest of the environment.”
