Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) head coach Chandrakant Pandit warned Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) newly appointed skipper, Rajat Patidar, about the tough challenge awaiting him when the two teams clash in the opening match of IPL 2025. The season opener will take place at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata on March 22.
RCB recently named Patidar as their captain for the IPL 2025 season. Interestingly, the 31-year-old had previously led Madhya Pradesh—Pandit’s home state—in the recent Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) and Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT). Speaking about RCB’s decision to appoint Patidar as captain, Pandit told ‘Mid Day’:
“Though he is a new captain, there are stalwarts [like Virat Kohli] in his team. I am confident he will do well because he has the experience of leading MP. But he will have a tough time against us.”
Meanwhile, KKR remains one of only two franchises, alongside Delhi Capitals, that have yet to announce their captain for IPL 2025.
“In a few days we will take a decision on the captaincy [after] discussing with our franchise owners and CEO. We will come to know in one or two matches about what combination works for us. We will get an idea in our upcoming camps what every player’s role will be,” said Pandit.
“We can’t label any team as weak”- Chandrakant Pandit
Chandrakant Pandit recognized the difficulty of starting afresh with numerous new players as KKR aims to defend their IPL title in the face of strong competition in the upcoming season. Although they parted ways with their captain from last year, KKR retained several key players from the title-winning squad.
“We have a few new players, who were not part of the title-winning team last season. To understand each other will be quite important as they have played for different franchises earlier and now are part of our team.”
”IPL is always a very competitive tournament and we can’t say any team is weak. It’s a challenge for all teams, because all have new players through the mega auction,” said Pandit.
He further added: “We have players like Ajinkya [Rahane], Venkatesh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh and Harshit Rana. I am confident they will help the team perform well this time also.”
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