Former India cricketer turned commentator Manoj Tiwary praised Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) captain Rajat Patidar for leaving a mark among some international stars after the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 final. He had a dominant campaign to help the franchise record their second title win in a row after a five-wicket win over the Gujarat Titans (GT) as well. He finished  IPL 2026 with 501 runs in 15 matches for RCB at an average of 41.75 and a strike rate of 192.69 as well.

“Looking at him, it does not seem like pressure affects him. In teams like these, where there are so many stars, you tend to get overshadowed, but he has such good judgment and understanding at this age, that he does not let other things affect him. It is not easy when you have a player like Virat Kohli in your team, and other stars. It is easy to get lost among those names, but he assures that he’s there as well. He is not among those who will just sit back, he has a lot of trust and confidence in his game, and the kind of knocks he has played in the playoffs, just unbelievable,” he said on Cricbuzz.

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“We often see Suryavanshi’s shots and ask how has he hit that. But Rajat Patidar had also struck some shots during Qualifier 1. After seeing such shots you realise that this player is different. I want to go one step further, can the selectors see him as a future India T20I captain? They can certainly consider him,” he again added.

Meanwhile, former India cricketer Virender Sehwag also added that the new and even more improved and destructive version of Rajat Patidar has to be part of the Indian T20I team because of his consistency in the middle order as well.

“You can ignore him for one year, but you cannot ignore him for two years. Even in the last season he had scored runs and won the trophy. He has done the same this year as well, so you cannot keep him away from the Indian T20I team for too long now. His self-confidence has improved even more since becoming captain. The kind of strike rate with which he has batted in the middle order, it might be that no one has done it this season,” Virender Sehwag said.