- May 12, 2025
The IPL is a big talent show – instead of singing or dancing, they hit sixes, break stumps, and take some nice catches! Young guns walk in every year, some will make headlines, some will not. Two players who have moved from Rishabh Pant and Rajat Patidar. Both have good moments, but where do they both stand after 38 IPL matches? Let’s have a look at Rishabh Pant and Rajat Patidar and see who smashed it early in their career.
Impact with the Bat: Power Meets Precision
Simply looking at the number, Rishabh Pant led off the blocks. In his first 38 IPL games, the Delhi Capitals keeper scored 1248 runs with an average of 35.66 and an audacious strike rate of 162.71. That’s an explosive and no surprise, Pant was given a fast track into the Indian side.
Rajat Patidar, on the other hand, has built up a good career since he made his debut in 2021. In 38 formats, he has averaged 31.45 on strikes of 154.23 with a total of 1038 runs. Though these numbers fall just short of Pant, they are still pretty respectable, considering Patidar is the middle-order stabilizer in a team of power hitters.
Big Performances: The Game-Changers
This is where it starts to heat up. Both players hit a century in this 38-match span, and the two innings were both iconic.
Pant’s 128 runs off 63 balls against SRH in 2018 was simply chaos – aggressive, full of bravado, and almost disrespectful to the bowlers. Pant set the cricketing world abuzz. He didn’t just show us that he was good; he also showed us that he intended to stay and prove it.
Patidar’s 112 runs off 54 balls in the 2022 playoffs against Lucknow Super Giants? Just as legendary! He scored the runs under knockout pressure, where everything was at stake. An innings that didn’t just win a match – it reinstilled hope for RCB’s fan base and reminded everyone that Patidar doesn’t just hit runs – he can also win you matches.
Interestingly, Patidar has nine scores of 50 or more (eight 50s plus 1 100) in his first 38 matches, just ahead of Pant, who had nine (eight 50s and 1 ton) in the same period. So they are both evenly matched with milestones, but in terms of impact at the moments of truth, I think Patidar has the slight edge based on his playoff performance.
Runs That Win Games: The Silent MVPs
It’s one point to score runs. In this category, both individuals are doing it, but each player’s contribution to scoring runs comes from different capacities.
The Rajat Patidar side had 22 wins in 38 games, and in those wins he scored a grand total of 618 runs in 19 innings with an average of 24.57 runs, at a strike rate of 164.80, and that level is about as good as it gets in T20 level – high impact runs in winning contexts.
Pant conversely won 15 out of his first 38 games. Pant was marginally less, but when he did win, he was a much bigger difference-maker. He single-handedly won games, and they often were in the distance of securing a victory against their direct rivals in the league.
Reality-wise, these two players are two shades of magnificent: Pant, the flashy maverick, and Patidar, the emergent tactician. Both cost and made an impression early in their IPL careers – since there is plenty of cricket in a season, there is plenty of time for this comparison to develop.
So, who do you think will have a bigger IPL legacy? Let us know in the comments – and keep talking cricket!
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