Rajat Patidar has been announced as the new captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for IPL 2025.
RCB’s COO, Rajesh Menon, announced the team’s decisions at an event in Bengaluru, which was attended by team director Mo Bobat, head coach Andy Flower, and Rajat Patidar.
Patidar joined RCB in 2021 and has played in 27 IPL games, scoring 799 runs with an average of 34.74. In 2024, he captained the Madhya Pradesh state team to the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, finishing as the second-highest run-scorer in the tournament.
Leading up to the IPL 2025 auction, RCB released Faf du Plessis, who had served as the team’s skipper for the past three seasons. Patidar was one of three players retained by the franchise, along with Virat Kohli and Yash Dayal.
Contrary to expectations, during the auction, the Bengaluru-based franchise did not pursue any of the prominent captaincy options available, such as KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, or Shreyas Iyer.
In total, RCB signed 22 players in the auction, including notable acquisitions like England all-rounder Liam Livingstone and Australian players Josh Hazlewood and Tim David.
