'RCB break silence on not bidding for proven captains KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant'

With the captaincy being the primary focus for most franchises, all eyes were on the two-day auction in Riyadh last year to see who would secure the services of Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, and Rishabh Pant. RCB was also in the mix after parting ways with Faf du Plessis, who had led the team in the last three seasons following Kohli's decision to step down as captain in 2021. Surprisingly, RCB did not pursue any of these high-profile players, leading to questions and criticism of their auction strategy. This, however, fueled speculation that Kohli might make a return as captain for RCB in the upcoming IPL 2025 season.

Speaking to the media on Thursday at an event in Bengaluru, Bobat said that the RCB had their focus on assembling a winning team rather than chasing the big-name players.

"We wanted to focus on assembling the right team, rather than just hunting for an individual that might fill a leadership role. So for us it was simply a case of just prioritising accordingly, trying to get the right team in place, trusting that we had internal options. If we didn't recruit anybody from external, we were very happy with both Rajat and Virat as options, and other players that we might recruit. So for us it was never something that needed to be a major constraint. Those guys are all good players and I'm sure they'll do well at their teams. We were very happy with the options we had internally. We were happy with lots of the other targets that we had and the guys that we brought in. So, it was never really a pressure point or a stress point for our decision making to have to hunt someone or go for them as captain. We had a number of options and we were very comfortable with the options that we had internally as well," he said.

A look at Patidar's captaincy credentials

The Madhya Pradesh batter became RCB's ninth skipper in IPL history. Patidar may not have led an IPL team before, but he certainly gained crucial captaincy experience after he led his state team to the final in Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament in the 2024/25 season, before resuming the role in Vijay Hazare Trophy as well.

ICC Champions Trophy , ICC Champions Trophy Schedule , and Champions Trophy 2025 Points Table – stay ahead with real-time match updates, team standings, and insights. Check live cricket score , player stats, and ICC rankings of top players like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli . Get expert analysis, match previews, and in-depth coverage of ICC CT 2025, RCB Captain Announcement and IPL 2025, all on HT Crickit, powered by Hindustan Times – your trusted source for cricket news. .freemium-card h4{color:#fff; padding-bottom:20px;} .freemium-card .freemium-content .subcTxt{padding-bottom:16px; color:#fff;} .freemium-card .freemium-content{width: auto; max-width: inherit;} .freemium-card .freemium-content .subcTxt{max-width:inherit; font-size:18px; padding-top:0; line-height:24px} .freemium-card .btnSubc{margin} .freemium-card .btnSubc a{background:#000; color:#fff; min-width:auto; padding:5px 15px; border-radius:6px; font-size:16px; line-height:22px; font-weight:700;} .freemium-card{height:285px} @media (max-width: 767px) { .freemium-card h4{font-size:28px} .freemium-card .freemium-content{max-width:360px; padding: 20px;} .freemium-card{height:303px; background-position: 100% 0; } }