The 31-year-old India National Cricket Team wicketkeeper-batsman Jitesh Sharma has opened up on the modern-day batting great Virat Kohli declining the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) captaincy ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.
Jitesh Sharma revealed that Virat Kohli did not want to be reappointed as the skipper of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), hence, Rajat Patidar was the best option to hand over the leadership.
Rajat Patidar to lead star-studded RCB in IPL 2025
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) released their skipper, Faf du Plessis, ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction and didn’t run behind the likes of Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, and Ishan Kishan at the auction.
With RCB not going all out for big Indian names, there was speculation that Virat Kohli could be reappointed as the skipper of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), having relinquished the captaincy a few years back.
However, that didn’t happen as the Madhya Pradesh batter Rajat Patidar, who was one of the players retained by the franchise, was made the new captain of the team for IPL 2025.
Notably, Patidar has been doing a good job for RCB in the last few years and has shown his capabilities as a leader in domestic cricket.
Virat Kohli bhai did not want to captain the side – Jitesh Sharma
Jitesh Sharma, who was bought by Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for INR 11 crore at the IPL 2025 mega auction, speculated that Kohli denied captaincy because he has not performed the role on a permanent basis in the last few years.
Jitesh Sharma added that he was aware of the fact that Rajat Patidar was in the race for captaincy, but only got know about his official appointment when the franchise made the announcement publicly. Speaking on the CricXtasy podcast, he said:
“I got to know about Rajat Patidar becoming the captain when everyone else got to know. But when you have been around the game for a while, you understand the flow of things. Virat bhai did not want to captain the side.
“I don’t know why he did not want to captain. I am not in the management side of things; when I am, I will let you know. But he has not been captaining in the last 2-3 years, so it felt that he would not do it this year as well. So, I think Rajat was the best option.”
Virat is very approachable – Jitesh Sharma
Jitesh Sharma also opened up about Virat Kohli’s down-to-earth nature, saying that he is very approachable and shares his knowledge with the players.
“Yeah, Virat is very approachable. It might be difficult for the outsiders, but for us players, it’s different. We ask him about the game. I remember the match between PBKS and RCB in Mohali. I scored around 42 and we collapsed. We lost by 10-20 runs. approached him and introduced myself. He said I know who you are. I asked him a few questions and he explained them really well.”
“I asked how to become more consistent in T20s. He responded that reading the wicket regarding the shots to be played will help you become more consistent. It has helped me in shot selection. He has vast knowledge of the game, but I have to be sensible and intelligent enough to absorb it.”