Rajat's got a stubbornness and a strength and a steeliness about him – Andy Flower

It has been a dream run for Rajat Patidar ever since he was picked up by RCB in 2021. Despite a couple of bumps, Patidar managed to turn the tide around in stunning fashion. He is an exquisite player of spin and the way he deploys himself as per the need of the team is indeed a spectacle to savour.

RCB’s head coach, Andy Flower opened up at length about Patidar on a Bold Diaries video. The former underlined how Patidar’s appointment as the captain of the team can benefit RCB massively while also pointing out that Rajat’s decision making will be tested for sure but he is confident that the latter will come up clutch.

Flower said, “I could speak for quite a long time about Rajat, but I've settled on three main things that I thought might be interesting to share. The first one is, there's a calmness and a simplicity to Rajat that I think will stand in really good 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 pressure involved in that. And I think the calm, simple demeanour that inherently lives within Rajat is going to serve him really well in the early, early stages of that tournament.”

He further added, “And his decision-making will be tested, like all of ours is, but I think these qualities will stand him in really good stead. 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, he's inherently quite a quiet guy, but observing him, he cares about the people around him.”

Flower continued about how Patidar cares about the players around him, stating, “He cares about the people that he plays with, that he shares a dressing room with. And I think that's a quality that means that he will instantly have respect and care from other people, and that, as a leader, those qualities are important in that people will follow you and get behind you. And then 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.”

Flower concluded with a note of bravery about Rajat Patidar, explaining, “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."