Former Indian batter Robin Uthappa believes newly appointed RCB skipper Rajat Patidar will depend on Virat Kohli’s captaincy skills a lot in IPL 2025. Patidar has been backed by head coach Andy Flower and Director of Cricket Mo Bobat and he would look to lead from the front. 

Rajat had led Madhya Pradesh in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and he also led his state team to the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2024. Meanwhile, Patidar scored 396 runs in 13 innings in IPL 2024 at a blistering strike rate of 177.13 and thus played an instrumental role in taking the franchise to the playoffs.

On the other hand, Virat Kohli has all the leadership experience under his belt and there is no doubt he would give his inputs to Rajat on the field.

“Rajat will have to contend with the superstardom of Virat Kohli, which is there within that side. He will, I think, lean on Virat Kohli’s captaincy skills a lot. But I think Rajat is in a unique position to be able to take RCB forward,” Robin Uthappa told IANS.

Uthappa reckons Rajat will need to back his style of leadership and he would need to lead from the front.

“I think in RCB with Rajat being there at the helm right now, he will have to figure out his mode of leadership. He has done fairly well with leadership in domestic cricket. But he’ll have to convert that obviously again into performances as far as RCB is concerned,” he stated.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru will begin their IPL 2025 campaign against defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Saturday.

RCB squad for IPL 2025:

Batters: Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Devdutt Padikkal, Swastik Chhikara.

Wicketkeepers: Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma.

All-rounders: Liam Livingstone, Krunal Pandya, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethell.

Fast bowlers: Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Dar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Nuwan Thushara, Yash Dayal, Lungi Ngidi, Abhinandan Singh.

Spinners: Suyash Sharma, Mohit Rathee.