In its last year before attaining adulthood, the IPL is witnessing an entirely new philosophy successfully graduating the trial stage. Six of the league’s franchises have captains whose candidatures as world beaters on the global stage haven’t really come under the scanner. Pat Cummins (Sunrisers Hyderabad) and Hardik Pandya (Mumbai Indians) have played central roles in successful World T20 campaigns—but the likes of Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson and Ruturaj Gaikwad are part of the next phase of the league’s legacy, with a lot riding on them.
And now, with the league’s most frustratingly inscrutable side—Royal Challengers Bengaluru—announcing Rajat Patidar as their new skipper, a new leadership phenomenon seems to have come to the fore. It’s the emergence of the international greenhorn as the IPL captain. If Patidar’s appointment comes as a surprise, let me reiterate that it’s not really a shocker.
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Shreyas Iyer was 24, and virtually an unknown commodity, when he was handed the reins of Delhi Daredevils in 2018. A perennially difficult side, Delhi—rebranded as the Capitals the following year—made it to the playoffs after seven long years the following season, under Iyer’s leadership. Their quartet of explosive Indian batters—Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw and Rishabh Pant, alongside Iyer himself—fired in unison to take DC within striking distance of the final.
The following season saw the side close that gap as they made the only final they ever have, before running out of steam in typical Delhi fashion against Mumbai Indians. After losing their top three cheaply, Iyer steadied the ship with Rishabh Pant, top scoring with an unbeaten 65 off 50 balls. Delhi managed 156—which was never going be safe against a lineup featuring Rohit Sharma, Quinton De Kock, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard and the Pandya brothers—and lost.
The following year, Iyer suffered a shoulder injury and, despite returning to the side midway through the league, lost the job to Rishabh Pant. The franchise started their season in a very uncharacteristically Delhi fashion—winning eight of their first ten games—before finishing top of the table in the league stage. Whether it was to not risk worsening Iyer's injury or to stick with the Pant mojo, is anybody's guess, but Iyer transferred to Kolkata Knight Riders in 2022 and brought home the trophy—after a decade for them—as their captain, in 2024.
Rajasthan Royals appointed Steven Smith as captain for the latter half of the 2014 season, with the stint continuing in 2015. Back then, despite having broken out as a test star for Australia in the 2013-14 Ashes, the 25-year-old’s limited-overs credentials were yet to be put to the test. Smith would go on to captain the Royals in 27 games, winning 15 of them—resulting in a win percentage for the franchise that’s second only to Rahul Dravid.
Smith’s successor, Sanju Samson was the side’s youngest skipper (26) ever, when he took over in 2021, taking them to two playoffs since, including one final (in 2022).
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The international greenhorn has arrived at another major IPL franchise, the five-time winner Chennai Super Kings. After a failed captaincy handover—from MS Dhoni to Ravindra Jadeja and back to MSD—in 2022, they seem to have made a more balanced and thought-out call with appointing Ruturaj Gaikwad, then 27, as captain in 2024. Except for a few games in the 2022 season and the two seasons (2016 and 2017) that they remained banned for, one of the league’s most dominant sides has been under the charge of arguably the most influential leadership figure in Indian cricket in the last two decades.
It was a topsy-turvy season under Gaikwad, but it could mostly be attributed to the transition phase the team has been under. But CSK has won five titles and time and again made dramatic comebacks despite controversies and momentum shifts—and with Dhoni not retiring yet—it wouldn’t be surprising if Gaikwad, who scored the second-most runs (583) in his first season as skipper, heralds a brand-new dawn for the side.
Now, as far as the RCB legacy goes, the only constant has been the pressure of expectations. Led for the longest time by Virat Kohli (nine seasons), and having seen success in phases before the frequent eventual moment of unravelling, the franchise has struggled with the weight of illustrious names that have come with an international reputation—Chris Gayle, AB De Villiers, Glenn Maxwell, Yuvraj Singh, Shane Watson (even Brendon McCullum, briefly), and Kohli himself. At least in the last decade or so, there hasn’t been even one season that the side didn't start as one of the favourites but floundered under pressure.
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They’ve never failed to get eyeballs. Their fortunes in the league are usually annual meme fodder during the two months of the IPL. It’s the most curious of cases—that keeps experts, commentators, former RCB players, fan bases permanently hooked. Experts agree that it’s this blinding exposure and stage pressure that the serially underperforming side ails from.
This is what makes the appointment of Rajat Patidar interesting.
The Madhya Pradesh opener, a batter with a flair for stylish and aggressive strokeplay, does have a fan following among those who follow the league religiously. In 2022, Patidar compiled a fluid 112 versus Lucknow Super Giants—an innings patrons of flamboyant T20 batting continue to hail—and has consistently given the side swift starts, if not huge scores.
It could be safely argued that purely in terms of his approach to and style of batting, Patidar belongs in the same bracket as Iyer and Gaikwad. At 31, he’s played a lot more cricket at the domestic level than they had when they were given leadership of their IPL sides.
But his mixed success so far on the international stage—having played three tests without performing worth writing home about—bodes well for the thought RCB seems to have gone along with in this appointment.
If things go as planned, Patidar could serve as a stable tempering agent for a dish that has condiments that are unpredictable and ingredients that are as implosive as they are explosive. The combined batting might of foreign names such as Tim David, Liam Livingstone and Phil Salt needs strategic handholding from players who understand the dynamics and plays of the IPL well. Patidar would benefit from the wiles and experience of Virat Kohli, Josh Hazlewood, Krunal Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
It would be interesting how he approaches his own batting alongside this new responsibility. The batter has a natural talent for taking the attack to the opposition and having so far had the luxury to do that as a Powerplay maximiser, Patidar’s handling of the rest of the batting lineup would be key. If he can marry the absence of weight of expectations with his recent exploits in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy—he could emerge as one of the thinktank’s best decisions in a while.