Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), on Thursday, made a surprising move for the 2025 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Going against the wild speculation on Virat Kohli's return as RCB skipper, the franchise named Rajat Patidar as the new leader for the impending IPL season. Following the big announcement, team director Mo Bobat revealed why RCB did not go after proven captains during the mega auction last November.
With captaincy being the biggest concern for most franchises, the cynosure of the two-day auction in Riyadh last year was who would sign Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant. RCB, too, were among those franchises having parted ways with Faf du Plessis, who led the side in the last three seasons, after Kohli had relinquished the leadership role in 2021. However, RCB did not get after any of these names, which, although it raised a major question and drew criticism on their auction strategy, simultaneously sparked speculations that Kohli would return as captain in IPL 2025.
Speaking to the media on Thursday at an event in Bengaluru, Bobat said that the RCB had their focus on assembling a winning team rather than chasing the big-name players.
"We wanted to focus on assembling the right team, rather than just hunting for an individual that might fill a leadership role. So for us it was simply a case of just prioritising accordingly, trying to get the right team in place, trusting that we had internal options. If we didn't recruit anybody from external, we were very happy with both Rajat and Virat as options, and other players that we might recruit. So for us it was never something that needed to be a major constraint. Those guys are all good players and I'm sure they'll do well at their teams. We were very happy with the options we had internally. We were happy with lots of the other targets that we had and the guys that we brought in. So, it was never really a pressure point or a stress point for our decision making to have to hunt someone or go for them as captain. We had a number of options and we were very comfortable with the options that we had internally as well," he said.
A look at Patidar's captaincy credentials
{{/usCountry}}"We wanted to focus on assembling the right team, rather than just hunting for an individual that might fill a leadership role. So for us it was simply a case of just prioritising accordingly, trying to get the right team in place, trusting that we had internal options. If we didn't recruit anybody from external, we were very happy with both Rajat and Virat as options, and other players that we might recruit. So for us it was never something that needed to be a major constraint. Those guys are all good players and I'm sure they'll do well at their teams. We were very happy with the options we had internally. We were happy with lots of the other targets that we had and the guys that we brought in. So, it was never really a pressure point or a stress point for our decision making to have to hunt someone or go for them as captain. We had a number of options and we were very comfortable with the options that we had internally as well," he said.
A look at Patidar's captaincy credentials
{{/usCountry}}The Madhya Pradesh batter became RCB's ninth skipper in IPL history. Patidar may not have led an IPL team before, but he certainly gained crucial captaincy experience after he led his state team to the final in Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament in the 2024/25 season, before resuming the role in Vijay Hazare Trophy as well.