‘Jeet gaye, kar diya na maine’: Rajat Patidar’s first words to childhood friend after RCB’s second title win

Rajat Patidar (BCCI/IPL photo) NEW DELHI: As fireworks lit up the sky in Ahmedabad and Royal Challengers Bengaluru players celebrated yet another IPL triumph, one man sat quietly in the stands, taking in the moment.Abhishek Pathrod found a seat near the presentation stage and eagerly waited for his childhood friend Rajat Patidar. With the coveted trophy in hand, the Patidar walked straight to his childhood friend after the ceremony. The two embraced, their eyes moist with emotion. It was a hug that carried years of shared dreams, struggles and countless hours spent playing cricket together.“Look jeet gaye. Kar diya na maine,” Patidar told Abhishek before pulling him into another hug.Abhishek, who has played a fair amount of junior cricket alongside Patidar, could not resist recalling his friend’s remarkable journey.“Yes bhai, welcome, injury replacement for the two-time IPL-winning captain,” he replied, prompting laughter from both of them.Two years ago, Rajat Patidar was just another player in the RCB dressing room. He shared space with superstars like Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis and several other big names but had little identity of his own on the IPL scene.Today the picture has completely changed.Patidar is now the only captain after MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma to win back-to-back IPL titles as captain.“Usko record nahi tha that Rohit and Dhoni’s record has been equalled. His teammates told him. I remember when he took over as captain, all our friends got together and asked him, ‘Bhai 17 saal se nahi jite, pressure ka kya?’. He smiled and said, ‘PL kya pata iss baar’s the baar title’ the title to the Paar jeet jaye recalled.A change of captainLeading RCB is a completely different challenge than captaining a team like Mumbai Indians or Chennai Super Kings. The franchise bore the brunt of a 17-year trophy drought. But the Patidar not only embraced the captaincy but also elevated his bat alongside it – something many great captains have struggled to achieve.Patidar’s coach and childhood mentor Amay Khurasiya believes the batsman has always had leadership skills, regardless of his lack of captaincy experience.“I saw him from a very young age, I saw him when he was also in our camps and we do a lot of tactical evaluations, we do a lot of strategic evaluations of the kids in terms of asking them a lot of questions and he was always there with a different thought process and he spoke very less but whenever he spoke, he spoke very intelligently,” Khurasiya.com told TimesofIndiacom.“As a leader, if you see, he takes his chances, he makes his decisions, and you’ll always see him take them if they don’t go his way. If things don’t go his way, he’ll take them,” he said.When the franchise first approached him about the captaincy in 2024, Patidar did not immediately accept the role. Pathrod said he wants to return to domestic cricket, captain the teams there and understand if he is really ready for such a significant responsibility.The Patidar first captained the domestic competitions and later led Madhya Pradesh to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final. Although MP lost the final by five wickets, Patidar’s unbeaten 81 off 40 balls stood out.When Patidar eventually accepted the RCB captaincy, many around him felt that the decision was based less on experience and more on personality. His calmness stood out.“Look at how he bats and captains. Think Roger Federer – calm and composed. Rahul Dravid, calm and composed. Sachin Tendulkar, calm and composed. MS Dhoni. Patidar is very similar. But that doesn’t mean he is not aggressive,” Khurasiya said. “He’s always been one of those people who’s aggressive on the inside but never feels the need to show it. Rajat is the same. He’s of few words, but whenever he speaks, he speaks sense.”“It also takes a lot of courage and aggression not to show his emotions. If you want to see his aggressiveness, look at his bat and look into his eyes. He never answers with words, but he definitely answers with actions,” he added.Rajat Patidar: It is not just a drillPatidar finished the season with 501 runs at an average of 41.75 and a strike rate of 192.69. But apart from his numerous contributions and partnerships throughout the season, his explosive knock against Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 1 perfectly showcased his growth as both a captain and a batsman. `Patidar, long known as a player who dominated spin bowling, expanded his game further this season. He attacked both pace and spin with equal authority and attacked at breathtaking speed. This season, 283 of his 501 runs were against pace with a strike-rate of 177.9, while vs spin his strike-rate was 201.8.Pathrod says this was a result of the intense preparation that went into his batting ahead of the recent IPL seasons.“A lot of people here call him the ‘spin destroyer’. That’s his nickname. But it’s not just spin. He hits both spinners and fast bowlers equally well. He’s also had success against quality pace attacks,” said Pathrod.“Rajat spends at least four hours batting at the Holkar Stadium (in Indore, Madhya Pradesh) every day. Even now, he gets three to four hours of batting regularly. He plays spinners and fast bowlers and there are specialist batsmen who bowl him. He has smashed the pacers in this IPL. He has trained a lot for that,” said Pathrod.Now that RCB have won two titles on the trot, Patidar’s place in the franchise’s history is firmly secured. If Kohli was the pillar around which RCB built their championship-winning teams, Patidar was the architect who turned those dreams into reality.And after back-to-back triumphs, who knows? A historic hat-trick of IPL titles may await Patidar and RCB in 2027.