‘He deserves a lot of credit’ – Former RCB star hails Rajat Patidar’s impact after CSK victory

Former England batter Kevin Pietersen has heaped praise on Rajat Patidar’s overall impact, which propelled the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to a convincing win over rivals Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday, April 7.

Patidar came out to bat after the wicket of Phil Salt when the score was 93 for 2 from 10.4 overs. The skipper did not take his foot off the accelerator and went on to score an unbeaten 48 off just 19 deliveries. He hit one four and six sixes to score at a strike-rate of 252.63.

Pietersen was in awe of Patidar’s innings against CSK. The former RCB player applauded the 32-year-old’s impact on the proceedings despite the defending champions losing Virat Kohli and Phil Salt within the first 11 overs. 

“You could see the confidence in Rajat Patidar. Dinesh Karthik has spoken about how hard he worked on his game after the IPL. He wasn’t satisfied with just winning the title. He wanted to contribute more. Tim David’s innings was outstanding and filled with big sixes, but for me, Patidar’s knock was the turning point. When Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli and Phil Salt took some time to get going, Patidar came in and accelerated beautifully. The way he adapted to the conditions and found those sixes with such ease changed the momentum of the game. He deserves a lot of credit for that innings,” Pietersen said on JioStar.

Patidar was made RCB captain ahead of the start of the 2025 season. The right-handed batter guided his side to their maiden IPL title in his first season after taking over the reins from Virat Kohli. In their title-winning campaign, Patidar contributed 312 runs at an average of 24 and a strike-rate of 143.77.

This year, however, he has taken his game to a whole new level. The captain has scored 79 runs from two matches at an incredible strike-rate of 254.83.