RCB captain Rajat Patidar dedicates IPL 2026 title to stampede victims

AHMEDABAD: In a thoughtful gesture on a night of celebration, RCB captain Rajat Patidar dedicated his team’s second successive IPL title to the fans who lost their lives in a stampede outside the M Chinnaswamy Stadium during last year’s victory celebrations.As fireworks lit up the Ahmedabad sky and thousands of travelling fans celebrated the historic back-to-back triumph, the 33-year-old paused to honour those he called the franchise’s “family members”.

With the title, Patidar etched his name in elite company, becoming only the third captain after Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni to win back-toback IPL trophies. And even as he celebrated the ultimate birthday gift — the final fell on the eve of his 33rd — the RCB skipper was already looking ahead.“It feels really good. This is the best gift I could have asked for. But I try to stay in the present. We will celebrate today, but then the focus shifts to how we can make it three in a row,” he said. “When you win trophies, you don’t look at individual performances. Nothing is bigger than this.”Yet Patidar’s own season was pivotal. The right-hander enjoyed his best IPL campaign since joining RCB in 2021, aggregating 501 runs in 15 matches at an average of 41.75 and a strike rate of 192.69, including five fifties.

Reflecting on that transformation, Patidar credited meticulous preparation and technical work with mentor Dinesh Karthik. “I spent a lot of time working on my game before the IPL and spoke a lot with DK bhai about trigger movements and technical changes. That gave me clarity,” he said.Having spent five seasons with the franchise, Patidar also pointed to a shift in RCB’s culture. “I’ve only been here since 2021, so I can’t compare with what happened before. But what I see now is a clear change in mindset,” he said.