For 18 years, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) were the butt of all jokes. The franchise had several star-studded players. Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle, Shane Watson, and Marcus Stoinis. You name it all. The who’s who of cricket have played for the RCB in some season or another. But the trophy continued to elude the franchise, and Kohli even missed out on it in the 2016 season, when he smashed a record 973 runs. But Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Ben Cutting emerged out of nowhere to take the trophy away from RCB’s grasp.
However, Rajat Patidar’s transition to captaincy has changed everything for the franchise. Under his tenure, the RCB have won back-to-back IPL titles. On Sunday night in front of the packed Narendra Modi Stadium, Patidar and his boys did the double by defeating the hosts, the Gujarat Titans, in the summit clash of the 19th edition of the T20 tournament.
The right-handed batter from Madhya Pradesh had a memorable campaign himself, scoring 501 runs in 15 matches at an average of 41.75 and a strike rate of 192.69. His best came in Qualifier 1 against the Gujarat Titans, where he smashed the bowlers all around the park, hammering 93 to take RCB over the line.
Such was Patidar’s performance that his name is now coming in the fray for India selection, and many believe that he should be parachuted into the T20I team for the upcoming series against Ireland and England. The entire IPL campaign saw Patidar coming out to bat at No.4 and taking the game on straightaway, be it the pacers or spinners.
However, the seasoned pro said that he never walked out with a pre-conceived notion, and it was just a case of backing his game and doing the best for the team.
“It’s not like that I had to go in and target the bowlers from ball number one. No one in the team was doing that. It’s important to back your instincts. We did a lot of hard work before the tournament with DK (Dinesh Karthik, the batting coach). Andy Flower (head coach) and Mo Bobat (Director of Cricket) were also there,” said Patidar while replying to a Hindustan Times query during a select media interaction on Monday afternoon.
“More clarity about my role. I was pretty clear that if I’m batting in the middle overs, I can maximise and I can take a risk. I like taking risks, so if I am playing in the middle overs phase, I like to maximise every bowler. If I feel I have to go after the attack on my second delivery, I back myself and go with full clarity,” he added.
‘Most stylish Rajat’
Rajat was so dominant in the IPL 2026 season that he even got special praise from Shreyas Iyer, the captain of the Punjab Kings. The experienced batter labelled Patidar as the “most stylish performer.” When asked about this comment, the 33-year-old said he had spent a lot of time with Shreyas, so he wasn’t surprised by what the experienced batter had to say about him.
“I have spent a lot of time with Shreyas. In my first season in Ranji, we played Mumbai, and at that time, he scored a lot of runs. I admire him a lot. The way he was dominating in red-ball cricket, the shots which he was playing. At that point, it was my first season, and after looking at him, I changed my mindset. The way he was playing, it was unbelievable. Thanks to Shreyas, the words he spoke for me,” said Patidar.
Praise for Vaibhav Sooryavanshi
While all the chatter might be about RCB and rightly so, Patidar did take time out to speak a word or two about Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, the Rajasthan Royals opening batter. The 15-year-old won a number of awards on Sunday, including the Orange Cap for his haul of 776 runs in 16 matches.
Patidar had no doubt in his mind that Sooryavanshi was the standout performer of the season. “It’s pretty clear, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. He’s so young, and the way he’s dominated this tournament. He just didn’t play; he dominated every top bowler. So the way he played his shots, he’s amazing. Whenever I saw him on TV, it was just superb. I wish him luck.”