Rajat Patidar Reveals How Virat Kohli Backed Him as RCB Captain
Rajat Patidar has been a successful captain for Royal Challengers Bengaluru. While the team stood with no title for 17 years, they have won two consecutive seasons now. Amidst all this, Patidar explained how Virat Kohli had backed him to lead the team when Faf du Plessis left.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru is being termed as one of the most successful teams in the IPL lately. And the key reason behind the same has been the captaincy of Rajat Patidar, a decision which was taken by the team ahead of the IPL 2025 season.
Following this, RCB has never looked back, as they went on to win the next two seasons with Patidar as the skipper. When he was announced as the new captain of the team, it was made by Virat Kohli, who had led the team for almost a decade before stepping down as a captain in 2021.
Recently, Patidar talked about how Kohli backed him for captaincy. He said, "If your idol backs you, then you don't need anything more. You don't need anyone else's support. I used to notice everything about him when he batted. I mean, from what he did on the ground to what his routine was like off the field, I noticed everything. Later, I came to know that he had backed me a lot, including when it came to the captaincy. It is not easy to give someone the captaincy of an RCB team, considering the number of fans and the expectations. He must have seen something in me, I don't know what, but I have received a lot of support from him in the team as a player & as a Captain. He always backed me.”
Our Take
Rajat Patidar has talked about the bond between him and Virat Kohli in the game. Kohli had carried the legacy for RCB for years on his shoulders but he was never able to lift the trophy. However, he trusted Patidar to carry the legacy, who returned the best to the King of the game.