"They might have looked towards Virat Kohli again" - Aakash Chopra lauds Rajat Patidar's captaincy in RCB's IPL 2025 win
Former India player Aakash Chopra has lauded Rajat Patidar for his captaincy in the Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) title-winning run in IPL 2025. He noted that RCB had shown a lot of faith in Patidar by giving him the leadership role and not looking for a captain in the mega auction or giving back the reins to Virat Kohli.
RCB beat the Punjab Kings (PBKS) by six runs in the IPL 2025 final in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, June 3. They set the Shreyas Iyer-led side a 191-run target and restricted them to 184/7 to bag their maiden IPL trophy.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra,' the former India opener highlighted that Patidar repaid RCB for the faith they showed in him by appointing him their captain for IPL 2025.
"Captain Rajat Patidar once again flies under the radar. No one shows him, talks about him, or focuses on him that much. However, he is always there. He has made the right moves in the entire season," Chopra said (8:30).
"It was actually a massive investment of faith, belief, and hope, as they made a small kid their captain. He is not young in terms of age, but is short of experience. Teams generally go shopping for captains, or they might have looked towards Virat Kohli again," he added.
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru had finished as IPL runners-up thrice previously. They lost to the Deccan Chargers, the Chennai Super Kings and the SunRisers Hyderabad, respectively, in the summit clashes of the 2009, 2011 and 2016 editions of the prestigious league.
"The new leader did extremely well in the first 4 matches" - Aakash Chopra on Rajat Patidar's performances with the bat in IPL 2025
![Rajat Patidar played a few IPL 2025 games as the impact player due to a finger injury. [P/C: Getty]](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2025/06/56094-17490224672358-1920.jpg?w=500)
In the same video, Aakash Chopra noted that Rajat Patidar made an impressive start to IPL 2025 with the bat.
"They (RCB) said they were writing a new story and needed a new leader. The new leader did extremely well in the first four matches. He won two Player of the Match awards. He scored two half-centuries, one in Chennai as well," he said.
The cricketer-turned-commentator added that Patidar's lack of runs at the business end of the tournament didn't adversely impact his captaincy.
"However, he wasn't scoring runs later. At times, your decisions go weak when you aren't scoring runs, but it didn't happen with him. The way he maneuvered his bowlers, match after match, he was very, very good, and so he was in the final," Chopra observed.
With 312 runs at a strike rate of 143.77 in 14 innings, Rajat Patidar was RCB's third-highest run-getter in IPL 2025. Only Virat Kohli (657) and Phil Salt (403) scored more runs for the franchise this season.