Rajat Patidar stepped up and provided a late spark. Rajat Patidar is playing a pivotal role in RCB’s revival in IPL 2024. Rajat Patidar first came into the limelight when he smashed a magnificent unbeaten 112 off just 54 deliveries against the Lucknow Super Giants in the Eliminator in 2022.
Rajat Patidar showed no nerves of playing in a big knockout encounter and counter-attacked even as some more famous names – the likes of Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell – failed to deliver. The other standout feature was his clean striking – Rajat Patidar blasted seven towering sixes during the course of his splendid hundred.
Rajat Patidar in IPL 2024.
There is an uncanny similarity between Rajat Patidar’s performance that night at the Eden Gardens and his resurgence this season. Rajat Patidar had a torrid time in the first half of RCB’s campaign but just when everyone had written him and his franchise off, he stepped up and has provided a late spark playing a pivotal role in his team’s revival.
He has risen to the occasion when the two overseas superstars – Du Plessis and Maxwell – just like in that Eliminator in 2022 – have been short of runs and failed to provide the impetus at the top of the order. Also, the quintessential feature of his batting has been his ability to hit the long ball – no one has hit more sixes in the middle-order than Patidar this season!
A tough start to the season 2024
Rajat Patidar was in woeful form with the bat in the first half of RCB’s campaign in the tournament. He had an aggregate of 109 runs in six innings at an average of 18.2 at a strike rate of 141.6. He had registered three single-digit scores and consumed too many deliveries for too few runs in two other encounters. However, Rajat Patidar did give a glimpse of his prowess smashing a 26-ball 50 against the Mumbai Indians, albeit in a losing cause. RCB were in the doldrums having registered just one solitary win in their first seven matches.
The transformation in Rajat Patidar’s form
Rajat Patidar hammered a brilliant 52 off just 23 deliveries in a stiff run-chase against the Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens. RCB almost pulled off a miraculous win only to go down by a solitary run. However, that performance not only changed something in Rajat Patidar but lifted the entire unit.
RCB have won five matches on the trot thereafter and are now serious contenders for a place in the playoffs. While Virat Kohli and Will Jacks have also played their bat in their team’s resurgence, it is Patidar who has been the master-slayer for RCB in these encounters. Patidar has scored 211 runs at an astonishing strike rate of 208.9 smashing four fifties in his last five outings. Just for perspective, Kohli has a scoring rate of 165.8 while Jacks has scored at 177.7 per hundred deliveries in this time-frame.
50 off 20 deliveries (with 5 sixes) when the top 3 gave below-par performances against SRH – Patidar powered RCB to a 200+ total which proved too much to chase even for the famed SRH line-up. 55 off 23 deliveries against Punjab Kings, dominating the match-changing 76-run stand for the third-wicket with Kohli – RCB piled on a mammoth 241/7 and registered a big win.
And finally a scintillating 52 off just 32 deliveries after losing both Kohli and Du Plessis in the powerplay – Patidar put together a match-defining 88 off 53 deliveries with Will Jacks and was the aggressor in the partnership helping RCB post a more than competitive 187 which proved to much for the Capitals.
Rajat Patidar is only the third Indian player to record five (or more) fifties in a season for RCB in the IPL – given the big names that have played for the franchise, this is no mean achievement. All his five fifties have come from the number 4 – a position he has owned in the competition. No other batter has registered as many half-centuries from number 4 – Riyan Parag with four follows.
Rajat Patidar has not only scored consistently but he has also scored his runs at a rapid rate. His strike rate of 192 is the highest for all batters who have scored a minimum of 100 runs from the number 4 position. He has left behind players like Shivam Dube (strike rate of 184.7), Suryakumar Yadav (183.7), Shashank Singh (168.8) to name a few. Rajat Patidar’s ability to clear the ropes has stood out in the season. His 26 sixes in the middle-over phase (7-15) are the highest for any batter in the tournament.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batter Rajat Patidar shared his admiration for teammate Virat Kohli by stating how he watches all the net sessions of the champion cricketer to pick up nuggets to impart in his game.
You are filled with confidence when you are batting with Virat Kohli- Rajat Patidar
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batter Rajat Patidar shared his admiration for teammate Virat Kohli by stating how he watches all the net sessions of the champion cricketer to pick up nuggets to impart in his game.
Rajat Patidar endured a slow start to the ongoing IPL 2024 season but has returned to blazing form in the second half of RCB’s campaign. The 30-year-old has scored a half-century in five of his last seven innings to help the franchise’s resurgence from bottom feeders to playoff contenders.
Meanwhile, Kohli has enjoyed another incredible season, scoring 661 runs at an average of 66.10 and a strike rate of 155.16 in 13 outings. The veteran batter is currently the leading run-scorer in IPL 2024.
In an interview with Hindustan Times, Rajat Patidar hailed Kohli for being a constant guiding force to him.
“Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have always been my two biggest batting idols. I make it a point to watch every net session of Virat bhaiya and notice his foot work and stuff. I don’t go about making too many changes to my own game, but I try and see if I can add little things that I learn from him,” said Patidar.
He added:
“You’re filled with confidence when you’re batting with him in matches, you know the world’s best batter is at the other end. He guides me in terms of where the bowlers could bowl, and which areas we could target. There’s so much to learn from how he goes about his innings, how he thinks about his batting,”
Overall, Rajat Patidar has amassed 320 runs at an average of 29.09 and a strike rate of almost 180 in 13 games. His attacking of spinners in the middle overs has been vital to RCB’s ongoing five-game winning streak.
RCB had lost the services of their most destructive batter against spin – Glenn Maxwell – and needed someone to fill in the gap in the middle-order. Rajat Patidar obliged and with interest! Not only did he cover for the cameos from Maxwell but also made up for the loss of form of Du Plessis and Dinesh Karthik – both have gone off the boil in the second-half of the RCB campaign.
RCB’s sternest test might still await them this weekend when they clash with arch-rivals CSK in what could potentially be a shootout for the playoffs.