AHMEDABAD: The time last year, when Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper Rajat Patidar came for the pre-final press conference at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, he sat quietly on one side of the dias. Most questions were directed towards Shreyas Iyer, the Punjab Kings captain, who had played a blinder the previous day against Mumbai Indians at the same venue. Twenty-four hours later, the unassuming lad from Madhya Pradesh made history by leading RCB to their first IPL title.
Cut to Saturday, as Patidar walked with his long hair tied up before sitting in the centre of the dias — Gujarat Titans and Shubman Gill were travelling — he carried what the Gen Z call as ‘main character energy’. Still quiet, reserved, but no longer a captain who lingers in the shadows of Virat Kohli and other stars in the team. Patidar, in 2026, is the lead protagonist of RCB’s march to the final.
While the results speak for themselves — RCB topped the table and beat GT in Qualifier 1 to enter the final — what has stood out is Patidar stamping his authority as the team’s main batter. Kohli undoubtedly leads the charts for RCB with 600 runs, but the skipper is second to him with 486 runs at 44.18 average and 196.76 strike rate. That is not all. In a season where six-hitting has been taken to the next level with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi leading the way (72 sixes), Patidar is third on the list with 41 sixes after Abhishek Sharma’s 43.
He is no longer a spin-basher alone. Something he feels he never was. But this season, he has pushed his game against pace visibly. Numbers say as much. In 2026, Patidar’s strike rate against pace went up to a whopping 192.55 compared to 157 and 142 over the last couple of years. And therein lies the story of his evolution as a batter.
His impact as a batter leading from the front apart, what has helped Patidar become the lead star of an already star-studded RCB side is the seniors and management backing him to the hilt. Ask him how he handles it all, Patidar said he saw it as an opportunity to listen. “There are a lot of learnings, especially off the field. On the field, there are a lot of helping hands, I would say. There are a lot of experienced players, group of leaders, from whom I'm getting good ideas. So, I'm applying and trying to understand those ideas and apply them to the game. So, yeah, there are a lot of learnings, I think, more off the field," the skipper explained.
"At the same time, I never change myself. Because it's important to be yourself. That's what I've focused on. Even if I'm a captain, it doesn't mean I have to do anything different. The management also plays a big role in this. Because they never force me. They know what kind of an individual I am. They have always backed me. Even the senior players know what kind of an individual I am. So there's a good backing from the management and the senior players. So I have never faced such a problem. And I'm in my zone. So that's helping me,” he added.
What does being himself mean to Patidar? Staying in the present, not thinking about yesterday or tomorrow, or even making it to the Indian T20I team. Last year, while Iyer held all the attention, Patidar rose to the occasion to get his hands on the trophy. This year, Gill, for obvious reasons, will have a lot of buzz around him. Expect a much-improved Patidar to quietly win their second title and make history.