RCB Skipper Rajat Patidar Picks Rohit Sharma as the Best IPL Captain 

Rajat Patidar also overlooked legends like Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni, by naming Rohit Sharma as the greatest IPL captain.

RCB Skipper Rajat Patidar Picks Rohit Sharma as the Best IPL Captain 

Rajat Patidar named Rohit Sharma as IPL's best captain. (via NDTV Sports)

In Short
  • Rajat Patidar named Rohit Sharma as the best captain in IPL history during a rapid-fire segment.
  • Patidar led RCB to their first-ever IPL title in 2025, succeeding Faf du Plessis as captain.
  • RCB started the 2026 season strong, defeating SRH by six wickets in their opening match.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper Rajat Patidar managed to turn heads after engaging in a rapid-fire game about the best performers in IPL history. The 32-year-old surprisingly picked Rohit Sharma as the best captain in the IPL, overlooking other legendary figures. 

A middle-order batter, Rajat Patidar, was roped in by RCB during the 2022 IPL season as mid-season injury replacement for Luvnith Sisodia. In the team’s eliminator match against Lucknow Super Giants, he was included in the playing XI and became the first uncapped player to score a century in the playoffs. After missing the 2023 season with an injury, he returned to play in 2024, scoring 395 runs in 13 matches.

The 2025 season was one of reckoning for Patidar, who was appointed as a successor to Faf du Plessis as RCB’s new captain. While many had predicted that the 32-year-old might fail, he guided the franchise to a historic first-ever IPL title. Returning to the pitch for the 2026 season, he participated in a rapid-fire segment on Cricbuzz. Although he named RCB players for most of the answers, one surprising choice stunned fans.

Patidar had to pick the player he feels is the best captain the IPL has ever witnessed. He went on to name former Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma, while notably ignoring his own RCB teammate, Virat Kohli. He was not wrong in choosing Sharma, as the 38-year-old guided MI to a record five IPL trophies from 2013 to 2023. Overall, Sharma has captained in 158 IPL games, and has a win percentage of 55.06%. 

Interestingly, Patidar’s choice of Rohit Sharma meant that he also snubbed one of the greatest captains in IPL history, MS Dhoni. The joint-most successful captain, the Chennai Super Kings icon, holds the record for captaining the most matches in the IPL. RCB’s current captain, Rajat Patidar astonished everyone by picking South African great AB de Villiers as the best finisher, snubbing the likes of Dhoni, Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell.

In addition to his surprising choices, Patidar picked Virat Kohli as the IPL’s best batter and Faf du Plessis as the best fielder. For bowlers, Patidar chose Jasprit Bumrah and Dale Steyn as the best fast bowlers, and Sunil Narine as the best spinner in the tournament’s history.

Can CSK halt Rajat Patidar’s RCB winning streak at the Chinnaswamy this Sunday?

RCB endured a dominant start to their 2026 IPL campaign after registering a convincing victory over SRH. At the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, Rajat Patidar and his men defeated the Ishan Kishan-led team by a margin of six wickets. 

Rajat Patidar's RCB vs. Ruturaj Gaikwad's CSK
Rajat Patidar’s RCB will be up against Ruturaj Gaikwad’s CSK on Sunday. (via Hindustan Times)

The 2026 IPL season is a historic one for RCB, after their historic triumph last summer. In the season opener, RCB defeated SRH after chasing down a 202-run target in just 15.4 overs, courtesy Virat Kohli’s 69 runs off 38 balls, Devdutt Padikkal’s 61 off 26, and Patidar’s brisk 31 off 12. New Zealand pacer Jacob Duffy, making his IPL debut, won the POTM award for recording impressive figures of 3/22. 

Chennai Super Kings, on the other hand, had a contrasting start, suffering humiliation at the hands of Rajasthan Royals. A new-look CSK side, batting first at the ACA Stadium in Guwahati, was bowled out for just 127 runs, with Jamie Overton’s fighting 43 runs off 36 balls being the only positive. RR chased down the 128-run target in just 12.1 overs, as Vaibhav Suryavanshi recorded a fifty off just 15 deliveries. 

For CSK, who ended the 2025 IPL season at the bottom of the standings, the match against RCB is a critical one, since the two southern rivals will only play each other once this season. Before that key fixture, CSK will play against Punjab Kings at home on April 3.

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