RCB's Rajat Patidar Captaincy Story Triggers Huge Row, Aakash Chopra's Post Sets Internet Ablaze

Rajat Patidar was named the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) captain ahead of the start of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season. The decision came as a surprise to many, with the call being labelled as an afterthought as the franchise failed to buy a 'captaincy candidate' from the mega auction. However, RCB Director of Cricket, Mo Bobat, revealed that the management first had captaincy talks with Patidar midway through the 2024 season.

"Actually, if I'm totally honest, the thought on Rajat was even earlier than what people might have thought. So midway through the 2024 season, I think we were playing Punjab at Dharamsala, I remember being sat with him at practice, and I first spoke to him about captaincy and leadership. But the reason it was on my mind was we were midway through a season, we had just started to play well, which was good. And obviously, I was very aware of Faf being a leader and a captain that we were very happy with. I also knew we had a big auction coming up, and we were going to have to make a decision about captaincy," Bobat said.

Bobat also revealed that he didn't offer Patidar the captaincy but asked him to gain leadership experience by possibly getting such a role with his state team.

"I didn't talk specifically about 'we want you to be captain' because we didn't know at that stage, but I did say: 'Look, for you to even be an option or even to be one of our senior leader four players, it'd be good if you did some captaincy. So, go to your seniors, see if they would be prepared to make you captain, even if it's just for the white-ball stuff - the Mushtaq Ali or the Vijay Hazare trophy. And then let's see how that goes, see if you enjoy it, we can talk about it'," Bobat added.

Patidar indeed spoke to the then Madhya Pradesh coach Chandrakant Pandit and was soon named the MP skipper.

"So, he spoke to Chandu [Pandit], his coach at MP, and thankfully for us they allowed him to captain the team. And then Andy and I, before going into the auction, we also wanted to identify other potential captaincy options that we might recruit. So, we met a number of players, some of them we recruited. We met with Jitesh, we met with Krunal, we met with a number of other players. We wanted to recruit a number of leaders into this environment, and not worry about who the captain is. Then going into the auction, we thought, okay, we've got a number of options available to us, let's focus on recruiting the best team. After that, let's get a captain," he concluded.

The comments made by Bobat left former India cricketer Aakash Chopra stunned, who questioned how an IPL franchise can possibly influence captaincy change in a state team.

"A franchise can't possibly 'nudge' someone to lead in 'domestic cricket'. Right?? One could understand if someone is a seasoned State Team captain and is asked to continue (in case, he's offered the captaincy by the state team again). Rajat was a first-time skipper at MP. This math isn't mathing," Chopra posted on X.

A franchise can't possibly ‘nudge' someone to lead in ‘domestic cricket'. Right??

One could understand if someone is a seasoned State Team captain and is asked to continue (in case, he's offered the captaincy by the state team again). Rajat was a first-time skipper at MP.… https://t.co/RtQHkqyjXm

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) August 22, 2025

Patidar went on to lead Madhya Pradesh to the final of the 2024-25 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, impressing the RCB bosses.

The post from Chopra has since triggered a big debate on social media.

Topics mentioned in this article

Royal Challengers Bengaluru MP Rajat Patidar Aakash Chopra Cricket