Former India player Aakash Chopra has shown surprise about Rajat Patidar’s appointment as the RCB captain for IPL 2025. He also added that virtually everyone expected Virat Kohli to be reappointed as the RCB captain. However, RCB announced Patidar as their captain for the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League on Thursday, February 13 as well. He was among three players retained by the RCB ahead of the auction, with Kohli and Yash Dayal being the other two as well.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra’, he said, “Rajat Patidar is RCB’s new leader. We shall find out how effective he would be. We thought it would be Kohli, but he is not. Rajat Patidar is the eighth captain. Before him, they had Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Kevin Pietersen, Daniel Vettori, Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli, who captained them for the longest time.”

ALSO READ: “In the next T20 World Cup in India, he’ll be number one bowler” – Mohammad Kaif on Varun Chakravarthy

“Great players have captained this franchise. We measure a franchise’s success on the number of trophies they have lifted. They haven’t won even one, but it is not an unsuccessful franchise. It’s a decently successful franchise without a trophy. It’s not a team that remains at the bottom of the table or close to the wooden spoon,” Chopra again added.

However, Aakash Chopra also added that Rajat Patidar might not be a youngster but has limited international experience as well.

“RCB have gone towards Rajat Patidar in the new era starting for them. He is 31 years old. So he is no spring chicken. However, he is a captain who has played less than 10 international games for India. I remember Sanju Samson being made Rajasthan Royals captain when he had played less than 10 international games. Nitish Rana was made KKR’s captain and Shreyas Iyer was made the Delhi Capitals’ captain mid-season in 2018 when they had played less than 10 international games. The first season for all three wasn’t good at all,” Aakash Chopra concluded.