Rajat Patidar

In an era of style over substance, Rajat Patidar comes from the old school of performance at the domestic levels. Born in Indore, Patidar took to cricket as a bowler and then turned seriously into the game as a batter at the U-15 level. Like several other domestic doyens, Patidar too took his time to blossom as a batter. Having made his domestic debut for Madhya Pradesh during the 2015-16 season, it took the stylish batter a couple of seasons to find his feet. Patidar top-scored for his team in the 2018-19 domestic season and that set himself up for higher honours. A Duleep trophy call-up was soon followed by his first IPL stint, after being brought by the Royals Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) ahead of the 2021 season.

The season didn't go as well as Patidar would've wanted, he did show flashes of his skillful batting, but 71 runs from 4 games wasn't good enough to be retained. He almost missed the gravy train in the next season, but an (un)lucky injury break meant that the same franchise hired him as a replacement. What came later would alter Patidar's career in a massive way. He scored 333 runs at an impressive strike-rate, but it was his innings of 112* in the Eliminator match that earmarked the start of a glittering career, at least at the domestic level. 

Patidar's ability to take on any kind of spin became a folklore story and his stroke-making bordered on the fearless. Another decent season of IPL cricket meant that a national call-up was always on the cards, but it was ironic that Patidar's India caps has been restricted so far to only a single ODI and three Tests. The home Test series against England though proved a dampener for Patidar as nerves shred through his batting, known for his ability to play spin, he struggled against the three English spinners, falling to them twice in each Test. 

Patidar's failures at the red-ball level meant a quick return to domestics and he was named as captain of Madhya Pradesh for the 2025 season of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, India's premier domestic T20 championship. The right-hander led from the front and took his unfancied team to the final, something which didn't go unnoticed as he was named as the new RCB captain going into the 2025 season of the Indian Premier League.