“He will do a great job for this amazing franchise,” Kohli said of Patidar’s appointment as RCB captain

By
Jay Rock
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5

AB de Villiers believes that “insecurity, stepping into the big boots of captains like Faf and Kohli” will be Patidar’s biggest obstacle.

Virat Kohli has thrown his weight behind new Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) captain Rajat Patidar, whom he hopes will “lead you guys for a long time.” Patidar, one of RCB’s three retentions ahead of last November’s mega-auction, was introduced as Faf du Plessis’ successor last month.

“He [Patidar] is an amazing talent,” Kohli said at RCB Unbox, an event to unveil the team’s 2025 roster in Bengaluru on Monday. “He is a great player, we all know that, but he has got a great head on his shoulders, and he will do a great job for this amazing franchise and take the team forward. He has got everything that’s required.”

Patidar, who was initially spoken to fill the post following IPL 2024, is a new captain. Patidar was given the leadership of Madhya Pradesh prior to joining the RCB, and he guided the squad to the 2024–25 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final late last year. With 428 runs in nine innings at a strike rate of 186.08, Patidar’s individual contribution to the campaign was outstanding. He had the second-most sixes in the competition with 27.

Patidar talked about finding inspiration in the greats of the past as he stepped onto the dais amidst thunderous applause. “Legends like Virat bhai, AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle have played for RCB. I grew up watching them. From the start, I have loved the franchise a lot. I am happy that I got a new role to lead one of the biggest teams in T20 cricket.”

Patidar’s first season as an uncapped player in 2021 gave him the chance to play with De Villiers, who thinks the 31-year-old may experience both positive and negative effects from being captain. Additionally, he thinks Patidar will be able to forge his own style rather than attempting to imitate former captains like du Plessis or Kohli.

“Patidar’s biggest challenge will be insecurity, stepping into the big boots of captains like Faf and Virat,” de Villiers said during a media session organised by JioStar. “Having Virat around and constantly almost doubting yourself – ‘Am I doing the right thing? What would Virat do?’ So that I think will be his biggest obstacle. Use the experience of Virat, use the experience of [head coach] Andy Flower, but always stay true to who you are.”

Flower highlighted three attributes that he believed led them to select Patidar as captain during last month’s captaincy announcement.

“The first one is there’s a calmness and a simplicity to Rajat that I think will stand him in really good stead as a leader and a captain, particularly in the IPL,” Flower had said. “The calm, simple demeanour that inherently lives within Rajat is going to serve him really well in the hurly-burly of that tournament.
“The second thing I’d say about him, he’s inherently quite a quiet guy, but observing him, he cares about the people around him, he cares about the people that he plays with, that he shares a dressing room with. And I think that’s a quality that means that he will instantly have the respect and care from other people. As a leader, those qualities are important. In that people will follow you and get behind you.
“And then the third thing that stands out for me about him is that he’s got a stubbornness and a strength and a steeliness about him. I’ve seen it myself when I’m trying to coach him in the nets and he won’t listen to me, but you see it in the way that he plays. You see the bravery with which he takes on the game and I think that quality within him will be really important for him through the ups and downs.”

 

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