“Easy to get lost among those names, but he assures that he’s there as well”

Former India cricketer Manoj Tiwary praised Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) captain Rajat Patidar for carving a space for himself among some international stars after the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 final. The right-handed batter enjoyed 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).

Rajat Patidar made a massive statement in IPL 2026 after ending the season with 501 runs in 15 matches for RCB at an average of 41.75 and a strike rate of 192.69. The RCB captain also shone as a captain, becoming only the third player after the great MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma to guide a team to back-to-back IPL titles in history.

Manoj Tiwary noted that Patidar has done an exceptional job to be toe-to-toe with the international players in the RCB setup.

“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.

Furthermore, he branded Rajat Patidar as one of the serious Team India T20I captaincy candidates in the future along with Shreyas Iyer after his historic IPL 2026 success for RCB.

“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 added.

Rajat Patidar has a stunning win percentage of 71.42 as RCB captain over the last two seasons, losing only eight out of 28 matches, while delivering two consecutive titles.

Team India’s T20I side could see a potential transition after their recent T20 World Cup 2026 success, and current skipper Suryakumar Yadav’s dip in form and fitness concerns of late.

“You can ignore him for one year, but you cannot ignore him for two years” – Virender Sehwag on Rajat Patidar’s potential call-up to the Indian T20I team

Former India cricketer Virender Sehwag noted that the new and even more improved and destructive version of Rajat Patidar has to be part of the T20I team because of his consistent exploits in the middle order.

“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.

Team India will be facing the likes of Ireland and England in T20Is away from home in the coming month, while the squad list for the Asian Games is also being considered by the selection committee.