IPL 2025: RCB Captain Rajat Patidar Joins Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist in Elite List

Rajat Patidar will forever go down in history as the captain who won the first-ever Indian Premier League title for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru when they beat the Punjab Kings in the IPL 2025 final on Tuesday (June 3). It ended RCB's 18-year wait for an IPL title and etched one of the most passionately supported team's name into the list of IPL champions. (RCB vs PBKS Highlights)

And a lot of credit for that must go to Patidar, who took on the mantle of captaincy for the first time in the 2025 season and ended up doing much better than absolutely anyone expected him to. 

In the process, he joined a very elite list of captains in the cash-rich league. 

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Patidar Rewrites IPL History

Prior to 2025, there were only 4 captains who had won the IPL in their first attempt as captain. Shane Warne was the first, winning the first-ever IPL with Rajasthan Royals in 2008. 

His compatriot Adam Gilchrist completed the feat in 2009 - that was his first real attempt as even though he captained Deccan Charges in 2008, he took over mid-season and the season was all but done for them at that point. 

Rohit Sharma then did it in 2013, famously replacing Ricky Ponting mid-way in the season and leading a comeback for the ages to seal their first title. 

And then there was Hardik Pandya, who took Gujarat Titans to the title in his first-ever season of captaincy. 

Now Rajat Patidar has joined this list - and it is an illustrious one indeed. 

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RCB End 18-year Wait

It ends a very long wait for the Bengaluru-based franchise that was also littered with failures along the way. 

They made it to the final in 2009, 2011 and 2016 but they were unsuccessful in their attempts at claiming the title. 

But the fourth time was the charm for RCB and they can finally say ‘ee saala cup namde’.