Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra hailed Rajat Patidar’s captaincy after RCB clinched their maiden IPL title by beating Punjab Kings by six runs in the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Tuesday. 

Chopra highlighted that RCB showed a lot of trust in Patidar’s leadership as they didn’t look for a new leader in IPL 2025 mega auction. Furthermore, the franchise decided not to give back the captaincy baton to Virat Kohli after they decided not to retain Faf du Plessis.

“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 on his YouTube Channel.

“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 renowned commentator hailed Rajat Patidar’s performances with the bat in the first four games of the season. Patidar scored two fifties in the early phase of the tournament. The RCB captain scored 312 runs in 15 matches at an average of 24 and a strike rate of 143.77 in IPL 2025.

“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.

Chopra noted that Patidar’s lack of runs at the fag end of the tournament didn’t impact his leadership.

“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.

Patidar must have gained a lot of confidence after leading RCB to their maiden IPL title.