"Congratulations Rajat bhai" - Former RCB Director of Cricket sends wishes to captain Rajat Patidar ahead of IPL 2025

Royal Challengers Bengaluru named Rajat Patidar as their new captain ahead of IPL 2025 on Thursday, February 13. Soon after the announcement, Patidar received a message from former RCB Director of Cricket Mike Hesson via Instagram.

Mike Hesson was the Director of Cricket Operations at RCB when Rajat Patidar first joined the franchise in 2021. Patidar made his IPL debut for RCB in 2021 and became a regular member of the playing XI after scoring a century in the IPL 2022 Eliminator match against Lucknow Super Giants at Eden Gardens.

While Hesson is no longer a part of the RCB franchise, it seems like he formed a bond with Patidar. Taking to his Instagram story after RCB's announcement, Hesson wrote:

"Congratulations Rajat bhai, am sure you will lead the next RCB generation with pride, passion and authenticity."

Hesson wrote this caption while sharing a selfie with Patidar on his Instagram story. A popular X user shared a screenshot of Hesson's story. The tweet has already received more than 1,000 likes.

Rajat Patidar will become the 4th Indian player to captain Royal Challengers Bengaluru in IPL

Royal Challengers Bengaluru have been a part of the IPL since the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2008. The Bengaluru-based franchise appointed Rahul Dravid as their first-ever captain. After that, RCB assigned the leadership duties to six different individuals, with two of them being Indians.

Rajat Patidar has joined the elite club now. Before him, Dravid, Anil Kumble and Virat Kohli were the other Indian players to captain RCB in the IPL.

As far as overseas captains are concerned, RCB tried Shane Watson, Kevin Pietersen, Daniel Vettori and Faf du Plessis as their skippers. However, none of them could end the team's championship drought.

It will be interesting to see if Patidar can become the first captain to win a trophy for RCB.