Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) skipper Rajat Patidar admitted that he went 'blank' after being told to hold the captaincy plaque during the Unbox event, and it was Virat Kohli's motivational words that helped in calming him down.
Kohli, who has previously captained RCB for a total of nine IPL seasons (2013-21), very well knows how tough the role can be. Being handed over the captaincy plaque must have been quite overwhelming for Patidar, so Kohli did the right thing by sharing some motivational words with him.
“I was blank when he told me to hold the plaque. While giving it to me, he said, ‘You deserve it, you earned it.’ So I felt a little bit okay. I mean, when Virat said this to me, I became normal in that situation," Patidar said on the RCB Podcast.
“So I think that these two things are always going to be very special for me. Whenever he (Kohli) bats in the nets, I watch his batting. I learn as much as I can from him. It is also an opportunity that I am playing, and now I have the captaincy, and he is with me. So I learn as much as I can from him (Kohli). Because of the amount of experience and ideas that he has, no one else has the same," he added.
Patidar had impressed with the bat for RCB in the previous few seasons, thus his name was also being considered for the captaincy role. After Faf du Plessis was released ahead of IPL 2025, RCB's team management decided to hand over the leadership duties to Patidar.
The 31-year-old has been impressive, both as a batter and as a captain in IPL 2025 and has been pivotal to RCB's fantastic performance during the season. Patidar has scored a total of 239 runs in 11 matches in the ongoing IPL season, maintaining an average of 23.90 along with the highest individual score of 64.
Under Patidar's reign, RCB finds itself in a great position on the points table. The Bengaluru-based franchise currently sits on the second spot with 16 points from 11 matches. They are among the favourites to secure a spot in the playoffs.
RCB is set to lock horns against the Kolkata Knight Riders in their upcoming IPL clash that will be held at the M.Chinnaswamy stadium on April 17.