"That is what we don't want" - Aakash Chopra on Rajat Patidar as captain ahead of RCB vs KKR IPL 2025 clash

Former India player Aakash Chopra has opined that the focus will be on the two captains in the IPL 2025 clash between the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). He pointed out that RCB wouldn't want to lose Rajat Patidar as a batter due to captaincy pressure.

KKR and RCB will lock horns in the IPL 2025 opener in Kolkata on Saturday, March 22. While Patidar will lead the Bengaluru-based franchise, Ajinkya Rahane will captain the home team.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra,' the former India opener wondered whether Patidar could take RCB to the IPL 2025 title and expressed hope that his additional captaincy responsibility doesn't impact his batting adversely.

"Rajat Patidar is the new captain of a huge franchise, one that has reached the playoffs many times and played three finals. They have a legacy of good captains from Anil Kumble to Kevin Pietersen to Faf du Plessis and our man Virat Kohli. Shane Watson, Daniel Vettori and Rahul Dravid have also captained here. This team has had phenomenal captains," he said (3:20).

"Now Rajat Patidar is there. Can he take them to glory, that will be a huge question, and how will his own batting be? You have become the captain, but it shouldn't happen that the batter is lost. That is what we don't want from the RCB point of view. So there will be a massive focus on Rajat Patidar and we will try to decipher his style of captaincy," Chopra added.

Rajat Patidar smashed 395 runs at a strike rate of 177.13 in 13 innings in IPL 2024. He was among the three players retained by RCB ahead of the IPL 2025 auction, Virat Kohli and Yash Dayal being the other two, and was subsequently named the franchise's skipper for the 18th edition of the Indian Premier League.

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"It's not that he is a newbie" - Aakash Chopra on Ajinkya Rahane as KKR captain ahead of IPL 2025 clash vs RCB

Ajinkya Rahane (right) and Venkatesh Iyer have been appointed KKR captain and vice-captain respectively for IPL 2025 [P/C: kkr.in]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra noted that Ajinkya Rahane has immense captaincy experience but has lots to prove as the Kolkata Knight Riders skipper in IPL 2025.

"Ajinkya Rahane, on the other hand, has captained in 25 games to date. So it's not that he is a newbie. He recently took his team to a win in the SMAT (Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy) and has been Mumbai and India's captain. He has lifted the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He has a lot of experience but just think about the things that he needs to prove," he said (4:15).

The former KKR player opined that Rahane wasn't potentially the franchise's first-choice captain and would have the additional pressure of leading the defending champions.

"We were seeing how expensive each captain was sold. No other captain was sold for single digits. They were mostly retained, and those who weren't were sold very expensive. However, he was bought for ₹1.50 crore in the end. It seemed like it was an afterthought to give the captaincy to Ajju," Chopra observed.

"The biggest challenge for Ajju is that it's a winning team. Where further will you take a winning team? However, the expectation will be that they should win this time as they won last time, or should reach the final at least. That's never easy because retaining the crown is far tougher than winning it for the first time. So that will be a massive question," he added.

Aakash Chopra reckoned that Ajinkya Rahane would also have an internal conflict regarding his batting position. While observing that the former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) player is ideally suited to bat in the top three, positions that aren't vacant, he added that the KKR captain might not get to bat at all if the openers stitch together a substantial partnership.