AHMEDABAD: A little after 1AM on June 1, 2026, Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain Rajat Patidar walked into the press conference room at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad with the IPL trophy in his hand. It had been an hour since he turned 32, but not many in the room knew that at the time.
But that was not all he had done. In the hours leading up to that, he had led RCB to their second IPL title, beating the Gujarat Titans by five wickets. And he, in the process, became the third IPL skipper to win consecutive titles.
Coming in as an injury replacement to making history for RCB with two titles in a span of four years is no mean feat. But Patidar rarely lets his guard down. In his own words, he is not as expressive as others — someone who keeps saying that he likes to stay in the present. On the eve of the final, when asked about his ambitions with the Indian team, he had said the same. That he does not look behind at the past, nor does he look too far ahead. On Sunday, or rather just as Monday began, he was asked again to reflect on this moment, sitting with the IPL trophy next to him as a two-time winning RCB skipper and what that means to him.
Patidar turned towards the trophy on its left, looked at the name engraved at the bottom that read '2026 - Royal Challengers Bengaluru' and said, "It feels really good, and it is the best gift because it is my birthday today," sending a warm smile across the room. "There can't be a better gift. Overall, it feels good. But the way I am as an individual, I try to stay in the present. We won in 2025, we won in 2026. We will celebrate, obviously. But our focus will be on how we can do three in a row. But obviously, we won today. We will celebrate today," Patidar added.
The birthday boy went on to say that there is nothing better than winning the trophy two years in a row. The skipper, who finished with 501 runs at 41.75 average and 192.69 strike rate as the second-best batter for RCB after Virat Kohli, revealed how he prepared himself before the season. "No matter how much individual performance you do, when you win the trophy, you don't look back. Nothing can be better than this. I have learnt a lot as a captain and as a batter. I believe that I am giving myself a lot of time in batting because it is important to understand yourself. It is important to understand your batting.
"So, before coming from the IPL, I spent a lot of time on myself. I did a proper match session. It was just me, and I needed a few bowlers. But after that, I communicated a lot with DK Bhai (Dinesh Karthik) about how I can do more. Some trigger moments, technical changes, etc. And then I came here and continued that. And there was execution as well. So, I got a lot of clarity from that as a batter. And as a captain, I said that I have learned a lot when Faf du Plessis was the captain of RCB in IPL. How he presents himself, how confident his body language is, I learned a lot from him," Patidar explained.
Learnings from Kohli
Kohli, who scored 75 in the final, finished with 675 runs at 165 strike rate as the fourth-best batter in the season. While acknowledging his greatness, Patidar said that he has learnt a lot from watching and talking to Kohli, both on and off the field. "If I speak about Virat Kohli, I don't have words to explain him. He is used to doing great things, I would say," Patidar said.
"Everyone knows him, the way he bats. We all have the opportunity to learn from him on the field and off the field. We spend a lot of time together at breakfast, and we try to learn from him, whatever he says regarding cricket or off the field. I always keep watching him, what he does in the field, off the field, in the nets. And one thing I learned a lot is that his energy in the nets is similar as he plays the match. So, I think this is one thing I have learned from him," he added.
