Rajat Patidar appointed as new captain of RCB for IPL 2025

While preparations are going on for another Champions Trophy, the RCB team has surprised everyone, they have announced Rajat Patidar as the new captain of the team.

Rajat Patidar has been appointed as the captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for IPL 2025 starting from March 21. There was news in the media that Virat Kohli would be given the command of the team again, but this did not happen.

RCB made this announcement at an event in Bengaluru on Thursday. Team director Mo Bobat, head coach Andy Flower and Patidar attended the event.

Let us tell you that Rajat Patidar has played three seasons for the franchise since joining RCB in 2021 and has become one of their key batsmen, scoring 799 runs in 28 matches at a strike rate of 158.85.

"Rajat has a calm demeanour and that will be a huge asset to Rajat, especially in the IPL," Flower said. "He's a naturally calm person, but he cares about the people around him in the dressing room. As a captain, these qualities are important." Bobat confirmed that Kohli was an option the team management had thought about. "Both Virat and Rajat were credible auction picks for the captaincy," Bobat said. "We didn't want to go into the auction with a captaincy option in mind. "We wanted an Indian captain primarily because it's an Indian competition. Of course, Virat was an option. [But] Virat doesn't need the title of captaincy to lead. We saw that last year when Faf was the captain."

This will be Rajat Patidar's first captaincy stint in the IPL, but he has also captained MP in the 2024-25 seasons of the 20-over Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy. Those tournaments were his first full-time assignments as a captain in domestic cricket.

Rajat Patidar Records

Tournament	Matches	Runs	Average	Strike Rate
Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy	9	428	61.14	186.08
Vijay Hazare Trophy	9	100	56.50	186.08

He was the second-highest run-scorer in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with 428 runs in nine innings at an average of 61.14 and a strike rate of 186.08. In the Vijay Hazare Trophy, Patidar scored 100 runs in nine innings at an average of 56.50 and a strike rate of 186.08. Scored 226 runs at a strike rate of 107.10.