Former Indian batter Ambati Rayudu has heaped praise on Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper Rajat Patidar’s selfless batting approach after they claimed a five-wicket win against Lucknow Super Giants at the M.Chinnamswamy Stadium, Guwahati on Wednesday.
Patidar scored a quickfire knock of 27 runs off 13 balls in the run-chase of 147 as he once again played with an aggressive approach. The RCB skipper is the third-highest run-getter in IPL 2026, with 222 runs in five matches at an average of 55.50 and a strike rate of 213.46.
Patidar has led from the front and he has batted with an aggressive approach from the get-go.
Ambati Rayudu said on ESPN Cricinfo, “They are going after every ball. The captain is doing that so the team is following that tempo and that template. Whenever you see Patidar walk in, he comes with a lot of intent. It is rubbing off on his non-striker as well as the batters who are following. It is refreshing to see RCB play that way.
“Playing on a slow wicket, they adapted way better than the way Lucknow’s batters did. It was a slow wicket, they had to adjust their shots and their bat swing but they played some fantastic shots. Generally, we have seen a lot of sixes against loose balls, but this batting line-up has been hitting sixes against really good deliveries. That’s a great sign,” he added.
Once again, RCB came up with a collective batting performance, with Virat Kohli top-scoring with 49 off 34 balls at the top of the order. Former Australian skipper Aaron Finch said the defending champions are full of confidence with the bat.
He said, “That’s just a batting unit with a lot of confidence. You can see the gap between the teams on the top of the table and the bottom. That was again evident today. They go with a similar structure on how they go about their run-chases. They go hard even when the game [is in their grasp].
“It would’ve been easy in that situation for one of their batters to get 25 not out, but no, that’s not how they play cricket in Bengaluru now. They continue to stick to their guns, they play to their strengths. If the match up is theirs, they go for it. They put to bed games quite comfortably,” he concluded.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru will next take on Delhi Capitals at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, on Saturday.
