Rajat Patidar will have to form a very close working partnership with Virat Kohli – Harsha Bhogle

In less than five days’ time, RCB will be all set to rock and roll as they take the yard against Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 2025 curtain-raiser. With Rajat Patidar at the helm, a new era is all set to be written and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru will be hopeful of taking it by the scruff of its neck.

Speculations have been wild about wha the fans should expect from Rajat Patidar as a captain. Answering that question, Harsha Bhogle, on Cricbuzz, opined that Rajat will need help from the seniors in the side while underpinning the fact that the greatest glory for RCB will only come if Patidar can strike a key balance and partnership with Virat Kohli.

Talking about Rajat Patidar as a player, Harsha said, “RCB has gone with Rajat Patidar as the captain. It’s a huge show of faith in a young player, young in terms of being around at the highest level. He is about 30, 31 but a player of enormous potential, extraordinary ability, fine player of spin. So he is someone who is not worried about his place. He had a very good season last year as a player.”

Harsha then shifted his focus to the captaincy element, stating, “As captain of a franchise with the most unbelievable fanbase, Rajat Patidar will have to be ready before the first game starts and more than anything else, form a very very close working relationship with Virat Kohli. Because there are some players, even if they are not the captain, they are the leader of the side. Everybody is looking at them, everybody is gravitating around them. Virat Kohli is a huge leader for RCB.”

Harsha further added, “So the Patidar-Kohli relationship will have to be strong. At one level Patidar will have to be own person, at one level, he will have to lean on Virat Kohli. So that arrangement will form a big part of what happens with RCB this year.”