RCB Break Silence On Captaincy Saga, Virat Kohli Said This When Informed Of Rajat Patidar Call

Virat Kohli tried, Faf du Plessis tried, and a few others too, but it was Rajat Patidar who finally broke the franchise's deadlock and helped earn its first-ever Indian Premier League (IPL) title in the 2025 campaign. In his first season as skipper, Patidar proved his credentials as a leader. Though he had a few other experienced players like Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, etc. to consult with, Patidar rose to the occasion despite being doubted at the start of the campaign.

RCB's Director of Cricket, Mo Bobat, in a chat with Cricbuzz, shed light on the bold captaincy call, explaining why the franchise zeroed in on Patidar, while also admitting that the decision to name Virat the new skipper was also considered.

"The options we went into the auction with were that we could obviously buy back Faf if we wanted to have continuity. That was one option. Another option could be that we could go back to Virat. He's captained before, one of the best leaders that India's ever had. I'm pretty sure if we asked him to do it, he would have gone, 'yeah, let's give this a go' because he cares so much about the franchise," said Bobat as he hinted that the franchise could've asked Virat to take up captaincy again, and he would've said yes, but they decided against going with this option.

"The other internal retention option we had was Rajat, and I was sure that we were going to retain him. So, I spoke to him when we were in Dharamsala. I think he was a little bit surprised because he thought we might just talk about his batting or something. I remember asking him whether he had any aspirations to captain or lead, and he was probably a little bit surprised to hear the question, but he said, yes, he does like the idea of leadership and captaincy," Bobat further said.

What Virat Kohli Said On Rajat Patidar Captaincy Call

It was head coach Andy Flower and Bobat who floated the idea of naming Patidar the RCB skipper to Virat Kohli, who was playing for India in Ahmedabad during that time. Kohli had no hesitation in giving his vote of confidence to Patidar for the leadership role.

"Andy and I went and visited Virat. He was playing in Ahmedabad for India at the time. We told him what we were thinking, and he really liked the idea as well. Virat has a huge amount of respect for Rajat as a player, as a person. He knows that Rajat understands the franchise and understands what it takes to be an RCB player, which can be deemed as pressure for others, but these guys are there and they take it in their stride. So, he was confident that Rajat was accustomed to that.

"And also, we spoke with Virat and we talked about the fact that Rajat was going to be new to captaincy. He was going to need all of our help. That's the real"ity. And Virat said, 'Look, 100%, I'm there to help. It's in all of our interests if Rajat succeeds. Let's give this a go.' So, it's brilliant to have Virat's blessing and his approval because he's an important person and player in our environment," he said.

"And it was brilliant this year watching Virat support him and be there for him. He empowered him. He let Rajat make his decisions, but he was also on hand with ideas and suggestions on and off. And others stepped up as well. Jitesh was brilliant. It was great seeing him and Rajat really form a close partnership and friendship. Krunal was brilliant, a real leader. Even some of the overseas guys, you know, Hazelwood, Salt, Tim David, there's a lot of leaderful characters there and they all did their bit to help Rajat out."

Topics mentioned in this article

Royal Challengers Bengaluru Rajat Patidar Virat Kohli Cricket