Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain Rajat Patidar lives in his own world and at present nothing is distracting him other than the aim of winning the Indian Premier League for the second successive time.
RCB play Gujarat Titans in the 2026 final showdown at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday and on the eve of the match the RCB captain addressed the media. When asked if he was hoping to be selected in the Indian team for the upcoming away T20Is against Ireland and England, Patidar answered in the negative. He didn’t beat around the bush and came up with the good, old-fashioned “no”.
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“No, I am not looking forward to the possibility of getting selected for those tours [in June and July],” Patidar, whose exceptional 93 not out helped RCB beat Shubman Gill’s GT in the first qualifier earlier this week, said.
GT’s top-three has been in exceptional form this IPL season. Openers Gill and Sai Sudharsan have scored upwards of 700 runs. No.3 Jos Buttler has done very well too. Patidar acknowledged their impressive impressive showing but said RCB had made plans them. “Yes, their top-order is quite good. But we have some plans. We just need to execute them tomorrow,” he said.
Patidar living in the moment!
Only twice in the history of the league, a captain has won back-to-back trophies. Mahendra Singh Dhoni did it for Chennai Super Kings in 2010 and 2011. Then Rohit Sharma did it in 2019 and 2020 for Mumbai Indians. If Patidar wins it tomorrow, he will join the league of extraordinary gentlemen. However, he didn’t sound excited at the prospect. “I don’t think about these things. Who has done what before me, I am not competing with anyone. I live in the moment. I am only focusing on tomorrow’s game” he said.
The first qualifier was played this past Tuesday which means RCB have had some good rest. Their opponent GT, on the other hand, have been in action one more time since, and that was on Friday night, when they beat RR. When asked if RCB are better placed in light of the full four days’ rest compared to GT, Patidar answered in the affirmative. “Of course, we have some advantage on that front since we have had time to rest and recover. GT are coming into this game kind of right after their Qualifier 2. So, there is some advantage but but it’s not that big. Both teams are pretty good and have played some good cricket,” he said.
