- Rajat Patidar began his 33rd birthday celebrations with RCB winning IPL 2026.
- Patidar believes RCB’s win this year was more convincing than their 2025 title victory.
- The RCB captain also called Andy Flower the best coach he has played under.
Rajat Patidar had a memorable start to his 33rd birthday. The RCB captain had just led his team to back-to-back titles, and doesn’t seem to be in a mood to stop. For Patidar, this was an opportunity to live in the present and celebrate what his side had achieved.
However, he expressed his hunger for more as he addressed the media after the game. With two titles in the bag, Patidar was already speaking about a third. Here’s what he had to say:
“I’m feeling great… it’s a great feeling. it’s my birthday. There can’t be a better gift than this. The individual that I am, I always focus on living in the present. We have won back-to-back, we’ll celebrate but the focus will be how we can now do this three in a row. It can’t get better than this. When you win trophies, you don’t look at individual performances. Nothing is bigger than this.”
“Last year was a lot of pressure” – Rajat Patidar on RCB’s IPL 2025 win
Rajat Patidar then went on to draw parallels between both title wins. According to him, there was a lot more belief that RCB could win the title this time around, further adding that there was a lot of pressure last time around. He added:
“Last year was a lot of pressure. (This time) I was more calm. The way we played through the tournament, we didn’t just play but we dominated. I was confident if we played like this, we could win the second title for RCB. As a captain, I’m not very expressive, but at the same time I’m aware of game situations. Of course you need backing, there was a lot of it from the management and players.”
Patidar also spoke of his learnings and the work that went into the successful campaign. He particularly credited former captain Faf du Plessis for the same. The learnings themselves, however, also extended to his batting and not just captaincy.
The now two-time IPL champion opened up on the off-season work he did with batting coach Dinesh Karthik. The results were there for all to see, of course. Patidar batted with plenty of intent in the middle overs, ensuring RCB wrested away the momentum in key phases of the game.
The numbers too showed just how much of a difference all that work had made. Patidar scored 501 runs during IPL 2026 at a strike rate of nearly 193, his best returns in a single season of the IPL.
“I took a lot of learnings as captain and batter. I look at how much time I give myself to bat, I spent a lot of time at the nets before the season… just me and the bowlers. There was a lot of communication with DK bhai, regarding my trigger movements and some technical adjustments. When I came to the IPL, I continued that and was able to execute. That gave a lot of clarity to me as a batter. As captain, I learnt a lot [from] Faf du Plessis, how he presents himself, how his body language is always confident. That has taught me a lot.”
“He’s the best coach I’ve played under” – Patidar on Andy Flower
Rajat Patidar also chose to give RCB head coach, no pun intended, his flowers. Calling Andy Flower the best coach he has worked under, Patidar shone light on Flower’s methods. The RCB captain also praised the coaching staff for their role in changing the culture at the franchise. He said:
“I’ve played five seasons of the IPL and he is one of the best coaches. The way he handles players, not only those who play. For him the players who aren’t playing, the first-timers, he spends a lot of time with every individual. I don’t have words to express, but he’s the best coach I’ve played under.”
“The culture has changed. I don’t know what it was before 2021. But from when I’ve come in, there have been a lot of changes in the mindset of players. All credit to the coaching staff, the way they’ve been handling the players. Especially the new players who are also an important part of the team. The coaching staff treats every player equally – that’s a big change.”
For the RCB fans, the back-to-back titles come on the back of 17 trophyless seasons, and are reason enough to celebrate. For the team management, however, the wins signal a change in mentality. There already is talk of a possible third IPL trophy among players and non-playing staff alike. There’s only one way to find out whether that third title comes through next year.
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