[WATCH]- Rajat Patidar Shares A Touching Experience With Virat Kohli At An RCB Event Ahead Of IPL 2025

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) captain Rajat Patidar revealed that he was speechless when former captain Virat Kohli presented him with a plaque during the “RCB Unbox” event before IPL 2025. The 31-year-old shared that Kohli told him he truly deserved and had earned the honor of receiving the plaque.

Patidar was appointed as RCB captain in February 2025, succeeding Faf du Plessis, who was released by the team ahead of the mega auctions in November 2024.

“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.

𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐈𝐧𝐣𝐮𝐫𝐲 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 – 𝐑𝐚𝐣𝐚𝐭 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐫’𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐑𝐢𝐬𝐞 🙌

Rajat reflects on his memorable moment with Virat at #RCBUnbox, shares the perks of captaincy, the thrill of winning in Chennai, and much more, on… pic.twitter.com/xgkfgWe2GQ

— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) May 14, 2025

The right-hander said he learned a lot by watching Virat Kohli bat in the nets and admitted no one else had Kohli’s level of experience.

“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,” he said.

How Rajat Patidar Rose from replacement player to RCB Captain

Rajat Patidar joined the RCB squad in 2022 as a replacement for the injured Luvnith Sisodia. He made a significant impact during a crucial moment in the season, scoring an unbeaten 112 to help RCB defeat the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the Eliminator match.

After missing the entire 2023 IPL season, the Madhya Pradesh right-hander bounced back strongly in IPL 2024, scoring 395 runs in 15 games and playing a key role in RCB’s qualification for the Playoffs. RCB will take on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Saturday, May 17, when IPL 2025 resumes following a nine-day break.

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