IPL 2025, KKR vs RCB: New Leaders, fresh start | Cricket News

KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane and RCB skipper Rajat Patidar (Photo Credit: KKR/RCB)

KOLKATA: Rajat Patidar might be joyful to be again on the Eden Gardens. It was right here, again in 2022, that Patidar’s cricketing profession modified in a single day. In a squad having gamers like Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli and Glenn Maxwell, it was Patidar who stood tall that evening towards Lucknow Super Giants within the IPL Eliminator.
Coming in to bat at No. 3, Patidar received his first T20 century as he set the Eden stands on hearth, hitting 12 fours and 7 sixes to stay unbeaten on 112 off 54 balls. That by the way stays the best IPL rating at this venue.
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On Saturday, he might be arriving in a brand new avatar, donning the captain’s hat for the primary time for a franchise. With RCB but to win the trophy, there might be strain on him. But adjusting to conditions is all that counts in a fast-paced event just like the IPL.
Patidar has matured as a skipper, main Madhya Pradesh to the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 last final season and ending up because the second-highest run-getter within the event.
When it involves management, KKR will even be no totally different.

In any sport, it’s not usually that we get to see a aspect parting methods with its profitable skipper. But KKR determined to stroll a special path as they launched Shreyas Iyer, who received them their third IPL trophy final 12 months. They additionally misplaced their think-tank after mentor Gautam Gambhir, who was largely credited for his or her revival after back-to-back seventh-place finishes, took up the nationwide crew’s teaching job and Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate additionally joined him.
Naming Ajinkya Rahane, who didn’t appear to be KKR’s first-choice participant — he was picked up within the mega public sale at his base worth, that too on the second name — as their new skipper might show to be a double-edged sword for the defending champions.

Back in KKR after 2022, Rahane is not going to solely need to rebuild a profitable system with coach Chandrakant Pandit and new mentor Dwayne Bravo, however he will even have to attain persistently to cement his place within the power-packed batting aspect.
Although not a pure T20 participant, Rahane has nice credentials as a skipper. Who can overlook India’s greatest-ever abroad Test triumph underneath him on the Gabba in Jan 2021! Rahane has received all of the three ODI video games that he has captained India in and received one victory in two T20Is because the skipper. He additionally received the Ranji and Irani titles as skipper in 2024 and top-scored for Mumbai within the Mushtaq Ali T20 meet scoring 469 runs in eight matches at a strike charge of 164.56.

But his IPL report isn’t that encouraging. Captaining a aspect (RR) final within the IPL in 2019, he received simply 9 of the 25 matches. For the skippers, there’s a lot to play for on this IPL.