- June 6, 2025
Every year, the IPL provides us with something we can’t believe, but in 2025, cricket fans saw something momentous — Royal Challengers Bengaluru finally lifted their first trophy! Who led that charge? Rajat Patidar. Yes, that Rajat Patidar – once an uncapped player, now the player with his name on the mantle with legends Dhoni and Rohit.
However, Patidar’s winning is more than a nice underdog story; it’s the next chapter of a saga of elite captaincy in what will be 18 entertaining seasons of the IPL. So, whether you came to relive some golden memories or to appraise your favourite captain’s legacy, here’s the whole banquet. This is a refresher of each captain who has won the IPL, and why, despite his relative inexperience, Rajat Patidar may well have the greatest rise of all.
The Evolution of IPL Captaincy: More Than Just Tosses and Team Talks
It was 2008 when Shane Warne led a magnificent victory for the Rajasthan Royals, and the IPL was still in its infancy. Fast forward to, say, 2025. The leadership sphere is ten times more evolved than ever before. The role of captaincy has evolved, and contemporary leaders are data literate, media literate & under significant pressure, be it tactical, emotional, or mental.
Take Rohit Sharma: Things don’t stop there. That would be like only looking at form, or remembering only the results about a captain. It was not just form; it was timing and trust and getting the best out of every single player on the squad. Or MS Dhoni, who made ‘cool as ice’ a leadership narrative. These captains don’t just win games, they win legacies.
Patidar’s 2025-win represents a move away from captaincy, not one characterized by inflated ego. His move is a piece of rope linking middle-order run machine to trophy lifting captain, showing that when you win an IPL today, it is with another mindset shift: calm, no ego, but big in the moment to be clutch.
Patidar’s Defining Moment: Steering RCB to Their First IPL Triumph
Let’s be blunt, RCB fans have taken their hits in the last 15 years. Virat Kohli, a legendary player in his own right, could never figure it out even after a decade of trying. But this year, quietly came Rajat Patidar and did what Kohli, AB, and Gayle couldn’t do — delivered a trophy.
So, what’s the issue? One word: balance. Patidar trusted his bowlers, made some good decisions when rotating, and played his cricket without fear. However, when the moment seemed insurmountable, RCB’s bowling unit came through under Patidar’s captaincy to get them over the finish line.
Legends of the Trophy Room: A Quick Look Back
Give credit to the IPL Captaincy Hall of Fame, it is stacked. From this hall’s top tier, I would put 5-time title winner MS Dhoni, 5-time title winner Rohit Sharma, and 2-time title winner Gautam Gambhir -each represented a different style- Dhoni’s cool instinct, Rohit’s tactical calm, and Gambhir’s street-smart toughness.
And, of course, there were the mavericks — David Warner rallying Sunrisers Hyderabad to a seemingly impossible win in 2016, or Adam Gilchrist writing an entirely new version of the Deccan Chargers in 2009.
So, here’s the million-dollar question — who will be the next obscure underdog to step up? Will we see another breakout leader surprise the cricketing world in 2026?
In the meantime, we salute the copious amounts of past and present captains who have made this league a wondrous spectacle. And maybe, just maybe, keep an eye on that quiet fellow who bats at No. 3; he may be raising the next trophy too.
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