‘I learn as much as I can from him’ – Rajat Patidar on Virat Kohli’s influence on RCB and himself

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) are set to continue their campaign in IPL 2025 on May 17 against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). The Men in Red, under the leadership of Rajat Paitidar, have had a great season where they have won eight out of the 11 games they have played so far and are currently second on the points table.

Patidar is the eighth player to lead RCB in the IPL, replacing Faf du Plessis, who was released by the franchise ahead of the 2025 mega auction. The star middle-order batter has also spoken about the influence of Virat Kohli on the team, while recalling a moment during the unboxing event where Virat handed him the plaque on the ‘RCB podcast’. Patidar also mentioned how much he learns from the legendary batter in the net sessions and praised the amount of experience he has and ideas that he shares with the team.

“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.

“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,” the RCB skipper added. 

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Speaking of Patidar’s career as a batter in the IPL, he has played 38 matches and has scored 1038 runs at an average of 31.45 with nine half-centuries and one century in the tournament. He has also maintained a healthy strike rate of 154.23 as well.

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