Yes, you read the headline right! Rajat Patidar to lead the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) during the upcoming Indian Premier league (IPL) 2025? Well, former India and RCB player Robin Uthappa himself bats this thought, a couple of days before the IPL 2025 mega auction.
Much like many other franchises, RCB are team floundering to find suitable options to captain. After all, they released their IPL 2024 skipper Faf du Plessis, who led the team to 21 wins in 42 matches. While rumours even emerged for Virat Kohli to captain his beloved franchise in the IPL 2025 but we all know that they would try to buy a readymade skipper (yes, we are hinting at KL Rahul) at the mega auction.
No Virat Kohli but Rajat Patidar to captain RCB?
Amidst all this, Robin Uthappa has supported the an unlikely case for Rajat Patidar. The former cricketer-turned-commentator feels that Patidar would be an ideal future option captaincy pick for RCB. While speaking at Jio Cinema, Uthappa said, “I think they (RCB) should look at Rajat Patidar to take over that role because it seems like you need a new leader after two years. So, you might as well do it now to get ahead of the curve and build a captain for the next three to five years. Rajat is one of those players who can actually play that role for them.”
This has come as a surprising take by Uthappa, who knows the franchise, having previously played two seasons with them. This is certainly a left-field take as Patidar is not known for his captaincy journey. In fact, he has led his state team, Madhya Pradesh for just 6 T20 matches, two first-class matches and as many List-A games.