Rajat Patidar: Captain Cool who never aspired for the Hot Seat

A day after he led Royal Challengers Bangalore to their first title in the Indian Premier League in early June, Rajat Patidar and childhood friend Abhishek Patrod recalled a casual chat from a few months ago.

“After he was appointed the skipper of RCB for IPL 2025 in February, we chatted with each other. He said laughingly, ‘what if we win the IPL 2025 under my captaincy’,” recalled Patrod.

“We thought we were joking. But after RCB won the trophy, before leaving Bangalore, we recalled the chat. It is unbelievable that it has come true,” said an elated Patrod.

Patrod says that Patidar was never one to take up captaincy.

“He never captained any team, anywhere. He captained Madhya Pradesh in one tournament but left the leadership only after two matches. That was around 2017-18 during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Rajat [Patidar] began playing cricket since the age of 9. I know him since he was 13. I always knew that he has talent in him. All ex-cricketers, coaches, they used to praise him only. He was always talented as a cricketer. But he never knew captaincy.”

RCB had floated the idea of captaincy to him. But he wanted to first test the waters before taking the leap. He sought an opportunity with the Madhya Pradesh (MP) state team.

To RCB’s relief, he led MP to their second ever final in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy after their maiden entry in 2010-11 when they lost to Bengal in the final. This time though they lost to Mumbai but he returned with honour intact, also because he was ended as the second highest run-getter with 428 runs in nine innings at an average of 61.14.

All this convinced him that he can lead RCB in the tournament.

But an important aspect about his captaincy is that he is sure about his decisions.

“Whenever he takes a decision, he takes it without pressure and in peace. Even [MS] Dhoni had not captained much of note before he took over India captaincy. He became the most successful captain because he was always cool and composed on the field. Same thing is with Rajat,” said Patrod.

“He has not captained much. But it is his nature, and that gets reflected on his performance in the field. He captained with that nature. His nature played a key role in captaincy.”

Rajat Patidar (right) and childhood friend Abhishek Patrod

Virat Kohli is also known to have supported him a lot in that. He always pushed him, suggested ideas to him.

“Kohli also played a role in keeping him in front. This quality is not seen much among players. It is there in Virat Kohli, he is a great player. Like if there was a mistake, he was teaching him instead of blaming him – ‘We can do this thing,’ he would say. Dinesh Karthik also helped him and was a great influence on him.”

Patidar, who studied at New Digambar Public School initially and then at Chameli Devi Public School for higher classes and trains at Vijay Cricket Club, himself feels that the IPL win has helped him.

“Captaincy experience was very good. Taking decision, good or bad taught me a lot,” said Patidar.

The 32-year-old resident of Keshar Bagh in Indore has played three Tests for India but wasn’t persisted with following failure to score a single half-century in six innings. He has also represented India in one ODI.

But it is his performance now as captain of IPL winning team that will likely open doors for him in the India set-up, albeit in the T20 team.   

Tags : Rajat Patidar, IPL, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni, RCB, Bangalore