Is Rajat Patidar Ready to Rival Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer for Captaincy?

Ever since the retirement of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli from the T20I and Test formats, the Indian team has gone through drastic changes. Both of these legendary stars have led the Indian team for most of the last decade, leading the team to success across all three formats of the game.

With their retirement, the Indian team currently has three different captains across formats. In the Test format, Shubman Gill has been announced as the new captain, while Suryakumar Yadav started leading the team in the T20I format after India had won the T20 World Cup 2024. Rohit Sharma still remains the team’s captain in the ODI side, eager for the 2027 World Cup.

However, there have been reports circulating online that the BCCI is not looking forward to Rohit Sharma as a captaincy option for the 2027 World Cup. With both Rohit and Kohli being at risk of announcing their retirement at any time, the board has been looking forward to the new captains, in which Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer definitely lead the race.

But there is another contender whose name has been added to the list, and it is none other than Rajat Patidar. Leading his team to win the IPL and then the Duleep Trophy, Patidar has now been selected to captain India A for the upcoming ODI match against Australia A. This seems to be an opportunity for RaPa to announce his comeback to the Indian cricket team and potentially be the next captain.

Let’s take a look at how Rajat Patidar has proven to be a successful captain this year, in both domestic and the IPL.

Patidar Stamps Authority in SMAT

Rajat Patidar started to showcase his talent as a captain in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He was leading Madhya Pradesh in the tournament and was eager to win the title, as he wanted to prove himself as a captain. Patidar was able to do it in the Group Stage, as Madhya Pradesh finished at the top of the table with 6 wins in 7 matches.

In the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, with 8 teams reaching the playoffs, the journey to reach the finals was definitely not going to be easy for Rajat Patidar and Madhya Pradesh. For the first playoff match, the team went against Saurashtra in the quarter finals, and defeated them by 6 wickets to move to the next stage. Captain Patidar scored 28 runs off 18 balls during the chase, playing a crucial role for the team.

The semi-final clash for the same was being played between Delhi and Madhya Pradesh. Delhi was not able to score well against MP in the first innings, giving them a target of just 147 runs. Madhya Pradesh went down to chase the target with 7 wickets and 26 balls remaining, as Rajat Patidar received the Player of the Match award with 66 runs off 29 balls.

Now it was time for the ultimate captaincy test of Rajat Patidar, as he led Madhya Pradesh to the finals against Mumbai. However, this time Madhya Pradesh batted first and scored 174 runs for the loss of 8 wickets. Only Rajat Patidar stood as the warrior for the team, as he scored 81 runs off 40 balls with 6 fours and 6 sixes. Mumbai went down to chase the target with 5 wickets and 13 balls remaining, as Patidar fell just short to win the title.

It must have been a heartbreak for the captain, as he stood as the lone warrior for his team in the batting line-up. Still, his captaincy looked promising, as he led Madhya Pradesh to the finals of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He also finished as the second-highest run scorer of the tournament, with 428 runs in 9 innings at an average of 61.14, with 5 half-centuries.

RCB Finally Tastes Glory Under Patidar

Royal Challengers Bengaluru, a team that played across all 17 seasons of the IPL and had not won any title, wanted a new captain. The team’s previous captain, Faf du Plessis, was not retained in the IPL Mega Auction, as the team decided to strengthen its squad with various players such as Phil Salt, Josh Hazlewood, Krunal Pandya, and more.

However, the question was who could be leading the side in the IPL 2025 season. For this, RCB seemed interested in Patidar, who recently led Madhya Pradesh to the finals of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He was announced as the new captain of the team, and no one knew he could lead RCB to win its inaugural title in his first season as captain.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru asserted its dominance in the table from the very beginning of the season, and also went on to continue the same. As a result, the team finished in second spot in the standings with 9 wins in 14 matches, being ready for the next challenge, which was Qualifier 1.

Facing the Punjab Kings for the match, which would lead them to the final, Patidar once again showcased his captaincy skills, as he opted to field first after winning the toss. Bowling out Punjab Kings for just 101, the chase came down to be handy for Royal Challengers Bengaluru. The team chased down the target with 8 wickets remaining, as Patidar remained not out, scoring 15 runs off 8 balls.

Patidar had finally led RCB to another IPL final, as the team last played in the 2016 season. In the final match, the team once again went against the Punjab Kings, and this time, they were sent to bat first. As RCB ended up scoring 190/9, the target of 191 might have been easy for Punjab Kings to chase if Patidar was not the captain.

Patidar once again showcased his captaincy skills by deploying the right bowlers at the right time to take crucial wickets. Whether it was Romario Shepherd taking the wicket of Shreyas Iyer or Bhuvneshwar Kumar taking the wicket of Marcus Stoinis, Patidar ensured to use his cards well, which helped him to lead RCB to its first IPL title in 18 years.

Decade-Long Drought Broken by Central Zone

Central Zone had last won the Duleep Trophy in 2014, and since then, the team had reached close to winning the title but were never able to get the same. This time, in the Duleep Trophy 2025 edition, Central Zone had Rajat Patidar as the captain of the team, and things seemed possible this time for them to win the title.

First, the team went against the North East Zone in the quarter-final match. Although the match between these two teams ended in a draw, Central Zone had won the game by their strong score in the first innings, which helped the team to advance to the next stage. Patidar scored 125 runs off 96 balls in the first innings and 66 runs off 72 balls in the second innings, which helped him play a crucial role for his team.

The team went against the West Zone in the semi-final clash, and it was expected to be a tough one. West Zone had stars such as Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shardul Thakur, Shreyas Iyer, Tushar Deshpande, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and more. Due to this reason, the team looked strong as they prepared for the game against them. West Zone had a great start to the match, as the team went on to score 438 runs in the first innings.

When everyone thought that it was over for Central Zone, Rajat Patidar led his team to a mammoth total of 600 in the first innings. In this, Patidar alone scored 77 runs off 84 balls, while five other players were able to score half-centuries. Even though the semi-final match ended in a draw, due to their strong score in the first innings, the Central Zone was declared the winner.

In the final match, Central Zone, led by Rajat Patidar, went against South Zone. Patidar’s team started off the match with an upper hand, as the team bowled out the opposition for just 149 runs in the first innings. Later, when his team came out to bat, Rajat Patidar led from the front, as he ended up scoring 101 runs from 115 balls. This further helped Central Zone to score 511 runs in the first innings, and they took a massive lead.

South Zone tried its best to give a fight in its second innings, but the team got all out at the score of 426. With the target of just 65 runs, the match was in the hands of Central Zone, as the team went on to win the final by 6 wickets. This win helped Central Zone to win the Duleep Trophy for the first time since its last win in 2014.

Patidar Earns India A Leadership Call

Rajat Patidar was a part of the Indian cricket team, as he played 3 Test matches and one ODI. But it has been a long time since he received a chance to play for the national team. Now with Patidar showcasing his skills as a captain, even the BCCI selectors could not ignore the unbelievable things he achieved within a few months.

Whether it was leading Madhya Pradesh to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy finals or RCB to win the IPL title, Patidar had proved his captaincy in the limited-overs format. Later, by winning the Duleep Trophy for the Central Zone, he also proved himself to be an all-round captain who dominates across all formats and leads from the front.

🚨 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦 🚨

India A squad for one-day series against Australia A announced.

All The Details 🔽https://t.co/V8QokLO6zr

— BCCI (@BCCI) September 14, 2025

As a result, when BCCI announced its squad for the first ODI match between India A and Australia A, Rajat Patidar was announced as the captain of the Indian side. With Patidar now leading India A for the first one-day match against Australia A, it shows that BCCI is testing him in contention to be the next captain of the team. If Rohit Sharma is not favoured in the 2027 World Cup.