IPL 2025: Rajat Patidar Will Lean A Lot On Virat Kohli's Captaincy Skills, Says Robin Uthappa

Former India batter Robin Uthappa believes Rajat Patidar will lean on leadership skills of Virat Kohli and would have to contend with the batting stalwart's superstardom while leading the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in IPL 2025. This will be Patidar's first time leading an IPL team, and his previous leadership experience has been leading Madhya Pradesh to the final of the 2024/25 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Apart from Patidar, Axar Patel will also be in the spotlight as he leads Delhi Capitals in a full-time capacity for the first time in the IPL.

"Between Axar Patel and Rajat Patidar, I think Axar will be in a little bit better stead, to be very honest, because even with the newish side, there's still a lot of familiar faces. With Rajat also, it's a similar situation, but Rajat will have to contend with the superstardom of Virat Kohli, which is there within that side. He will, I think, lean on Virat Kohli's captaincy skills a lot.

"But I think Rajat is in a unique position to be able to take RCB forward. I'm really excited for teams like RCB, KKR (who have Ajinkya Rahane) and Delhi simply because they have new captains and it presents a new opportunity for these new captains to take the legacy of each team forward.

"In RCB's case, I think in RCB with Rajat being there at the helm right now, he will have to figure out his mode of leadership. He has done fairly well with leadership in domestic cricket. But he'll have to convert that obviously again into performances as far as RCB is concerned," said Uthappa, an IPL expert for JioStar, to IANS in a virtual interaction prior to the 18th edition of the tournament.

RCB also have a new-ish fast bowling look with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Rasikh Salam coming in alongside the