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Cricket Players‘You don’t need anyone else's support': Rajat Patidar opens up on Virat Kohli backing him for RCB captaincy
Rajat Patidar opens up on Virat Kohli backing him for RCB captaincy, saying support from his idol meant everything during his rise as a title-winning leader.
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Rajat Patidar’s appointment as Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain ahead of IPL 2025 had carried a significant Virat Kohli influence. After RCB released Faf du Plessis, who had led the side for three seasons, there was considerable anticipation over whether Kohli could return to the captaincy he had relinquished after the 2021 season.
The franchise eventually went in a different direction. During discussions over the next captain, RCB’s management spoke to Kohli about Patidar as a potential choice, and the former skipper strongly backed his name. Kohli’s faith in Patidar was based not merely on his performances with the bat but also on the qualities he had observed in him within the dressing room.
That support became public when Patidar was formally unveiled as captain. Kohli backed the decision and told his teammate that he had “earned the right” to lead RCB, while assuring him that the entire group would support him. The decision would eventually produce the result the franchise had chased for nearly two decades, with Patidar leading RCB to their maiden IPL title in 2025, following it up with the defence in 2026.
More than a year later, Patidar has now opened up about what Kohli’s backing meant to him, particularly because he had grown up looking at the former India captain as an idol. “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. From what he did on the ground to what his routine was off the field. Later, I came to know he backed me a lot, including when it came to captaincy,” Patidar told Sports Launchpad.
Kohli’s faith behind Patidar’s leadership rise
Patidar acknowledged that handing someone the RCB captaincy was not an ordinary decision. The franchise has one of the largest and most demanding fan bases in the IPL, while the captaincy itself comes with the weight of expectations built over years of chasing an elusive title. For Patidar, that made Kohli’s endorsement even more significant. He admitted that he was unsure what exactly Kohli had identified in him, but said the senior batter had consistently supported him both as a player and after his elevation to captaincy.
“It is not easy to hand someone the RCB captaincy, considering the 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 and as a captain,” Patidar said.
Patidar’s comments offer a glimpse into the transition of leadership at RCB. Kohli may no longer have held the captaincy title, but his influence remained important when the franchise was choosing the man who would take over. For Patidar, the journey carried an additional emotional layer. The cricketer whose batting, routines and preparation he had spent years observing eventually became one of the strongest voices supporting his rise. And in his first season as captain, Patidar repaid that faith by leading RCB to the IPL trophy they had waited 18 seasons to win.
