RCB head coach Andy Flower elaborated on three qualities which he believes make Rajat Patidar a good captain.
Quiet. Stubborn. Steely. That’s what Rajat Patidar is to Royal Challengers Bengaluru head coach Andy Flower. He tried his best “not to embarrass” Patidar in describing his qualities, which practically convinced the RCB management to appoint him as their new captain ahead of IPL 2025. But they flowed naturally. As you would expect when a franchise, especially like RCB, hands over its reigns to someone with minimal international experience but a lot of promise.
RCB management announced Rajat Patidar as their new captain
Prior to Thursday’s announcement, there was some speculation about Virat Kohli returning as captain of the franchise. Kohli was the RCB captain from 2013 to 2021 and has a fine record, though he could not land them the title. But RCB decided to look at the future and appointed Patidar as Faf du Plessis, who they believe can lead them even beyond the upcoming cycle.
Flower elaborated on three qualities which he believes make Patidar a good leader. “The first one is that there is calmness and a simplicity to Rajat that I think will stand him in excellent stead as a leader and a captain, particularly in the IPL. As we know, the IPL is one of the premier competitions in the world and there’s pressures involved in that. I think the calm, simple demeanour that inherently lives within Rajat is going to serve him really well in the hurly-burly of that tournament,” he said.
The former Zimbabwe captain then went on to talk about Patidar’s decision-making, which played a key role in taking his domestic side to the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s. His decision-making will be tested like all of ours is, but I think these qualities will stand him in good shape. We watched Rajat very closely as he captained Madhya Pradesh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament and we really liked what we saw around those qualities. The second thing I’d say about him is that he’s inherently quite a quiet guy, but observing him, he cares about the people around him. He cares about the people that he plays with, that he shares a dressing room with. I think that’s a quality that means that he will instantly have the respect and care from other people.
Rajat Patidar steely, didn’t listen to me when I tried to coach him’: Andy Flower
The 31-year-old, who signed up with the franchise in 2022, emerged as one of their top performers in the last season. The right-hander was also the second highest run-getter in the premier domestic T20 tournament, behind Ajinkya Rahane, scoring 428 from 10 matches at an average of 61 and a strike-rate of 186.08.
The 36-year-old led RCB in 143 matches, the second-longest stint as captain after the legendary Mahendra Singh Dhoni for Chennai Super Kings.
Flower also revealed that he once tried to coach Patidar but the batter didn’t exactly listen to him because he was confident of his own game.
“The third thing that stands out for me about him is that he’s got a stubbornness and a strength and a steeliness about him. I’ve seen it myself when I’m trying to coach him in the nets and he won’t listen to me, but you see it in the way that he plays. You see the bravery with which he takes on the game and I think that quality within him will be really important for him through the ups and downs, the inevitable ups and downs that come along with playing in the IPL and now stepping up another year into leading a big franchise in the IPL. So I think those qualities are going to stand Rajat in good stead. We recognise them. We will celebrate them and I really look forward to watching him in action.”
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