The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) will restart their IPL 2025 campaign against the Kolkata Knight Riders on May 17. The contest will be played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Rajat Patidar’s team has won eight out of 11 games and is currently second in the points table.
Patidar is the eighth cricketer to lead RCB in the tournament, and the right-handed batter replaced Faf du Plessis, who was not retained by the franchise before the mega auction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The star batter recently spoke about the influence of Virat Kohli on himself and the franchise, while recalling a moment when Virat handed him the plaque.
Patidar also shed light on how much he learns from the former captain and also lauded the amount of experience Kohli has and the ideas he shared with the team members.
“I couldn’t say anything when Virat instructed me to hold the plaque. Kohli told me that I was deserving and had earned it. I felt normal after a while as those words were coming from none other than Virat Kohli,” Rajat Patidar said.
“Whenever he (Kohli) bats in the practice session, I try to learn by watching his batting. I am also learning about captaincy from him. The amount of ideas and experience he has, no one else can match his standard,” he added.
In 38 IPL matches, he has scored 1038 runs at an average of 31.45, including nine half-centuries and one century. He has a strike rate of 154.23.
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