Rajat Patidar confirmed as new captain of Royal Challengers Bengaluru for IPL 2025 season

The wait is finally over as Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have announced the name of their new captain. Rajat Patidar will lead the side during the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season. The move comes after RCB had released former skipper Faf Du Plessis after the 2024 season. 

31-year-old Rajat Patidar’s elevation to captaincy shows his standing in the side. Not many fans were shocked with the news, as Patidar was one of the top contenders for the job. The right-handed batter has been a consistent performer and had scored 395 runs last season with the bat. So far, Patidar has played 27 matches for RCB, scoring 799 runs with one century and seven fifties with an average of 34 and strike rate of 158. 

Virat Kohli was one of the favourites to regain the job after Du Plessis was released. The 36-year-old had led RCB in 143 matches and won 66 matches. Kohli, as RCB captain, also lost 70 matches, with three tied matches and four games bearing no result. The win percentage for Kohli as RCB captain is 48.56. 

Surprisingly, one of the names doing the rounds for RCB’s captaincy was that of Krunal Pandya. The 33-year-old has been leading Baroda in the domestic circuit and also led Lucknow Super Giants for a few games in 2023 when KL Rahul got injured. Pandya was acquired during the IPL Auctions, which were held in Jeddah last November. 

Can RCB end the wait for their first IPL title?

Royal Challengers Bengaluru are yet to win the IPL title despite having star names in their side. This year, Bengaluru have signed Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Phil Salt, Krunal Pandya, and Jitesh Sharma. The addition of names like Salt and Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be huge for the side, as the two players have had experience winning the title.

Rajat Patidar will have a huge task on his shoulders to assemble the starry unit into an outfit and win the title. Bengaluru will also welcome the likes of Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, and Tim David into their team. Tim David was part of the Hobart Hurricanes that won the Big Bash League title recently. 

In the bowling department, the team has also signed the likes of Rasikh Salam Dar, Nuwan Thushara, Lungi Ngidi, and Suyash Sharma. To add more muscle, they also have Romario Shepherd in their side, who is not only a destructive lower-order batter but also a useful medium pacer.