Rajat Patidar showed once again what India are missing in their T20 team by delivering the innings of the IPL 2026 so far and taking his Royal Challengers Bengaluru team to the final.
Patidar hit an unbeaten 93 from just 33 balls as Bengaluru posted 254-5 against Gujarat Titans in the first qualifier in Dharamsala on Tuesday.
The target of 255 was the biggest in any IPL play-off match. Gujarat batters never threatened it at any stage, slipping to 88-8 in the 12th over.
A swashbuckling knock of 68 from Rahul Tewatia lower down the order added some respectability to the score. The Titans were bundled out for 162 as Bengaluru won by 92 runs.
The match, however, was all about Patidar. He came to the crease as Bengaluru lost the well-set Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal back to back by the ninth over, with the scoreboard reading 94-3.
And instead of consolidating, Patidar went all out, smashing nine sixes and five fours to post a total that was well above par.
“At the start, I take eight to 10 balls to see how the wicket is behaving, what the ball is doing. And after that, I bat with a clear mind about how I have to go about it,” Patidar said.
“I'm not worried about my wicket. So, I always like to put bowlers under pressure.”
Last season, when RCB won their maiden title, it was Kohli and Phil Salt who scored the bulk of the runs. This year, Kohli is once again their top scorer with 600 runs in 15 matches. Patidar is second on the list with 486 runs at a strike rate of just under 200.
Patidar was part of India's white and red-ball teams a few seasons back but a new wave of young batters dislodged him from the position in the middle order.
But for successive seasons in the IPL, Patidar had led from the front and scored high-impact innings to take his team to the final. The franchise has raised its game collectively while having former captain Kohli firmly in their plans, which can happen only under astute leadership.
The impact of his knock is bound to reach well beyond the IPL. The Indian team is preparing for the next T20 cycle and the management is almost certainly looking to move beyond their woefully out-of-form captain Suryakumar Yadav, who at 35 and with some fitness concerns does not seem to have enough top-level cricket left in him.
Patidar, 32, may not be a long-term prospect, but T20 cycles nowadays are rarely longer than two years. The RCB captain would be a natural fit in the Indian middle order.
But for now, the diminutive batter will be aiming to defend his team's title on Sunday. And if RCB manage to clinch the trophy, they will get an opportunity to move beyond the painful memories of last year's win when their victory parade turned into one of the worst tragedies in cricket.
Gujarat, on the other hand, are not out of the picture yet. They will get another chance to qualify for the final when they face the winner of the eliminator between Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
