Rajat Patidar etched his name into the record books on Tuesday, May 26, by becoming the first player to captain Royal Challengers Bengaluru to back-to-back Indian Premier League finals. The 32-year-old cricketer from Madhya Pradesh, who was handed the full-time captaincy of RCB ahead of IPL 2025, has now also become the first skipper to lead the franchise to two IPL finals.
Before Patidar took the reins at RCB, the Bengaluru-based franchise had managed to reach the IPL final on just three occasions across 17 seasons, each time under a different captain. Patidar, however, has achieved the feat of guiding them to two successive finals in only two seasons at the helm.
Patidar, who is yet to earn his T20I cap for India, has also become only the fifth captain in the entire history of the IPL to qualify for back-to-back finals. In doing so, he joined an elite group comprising MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, and Shreyas Iyer.
Captains Who Have Qualified For Back-To-Back IPL Finals
MS Dhoni led Chennai Super Kings to the 2010 final against Mumbai Indians, captained by Sachin Tendulkar. He then guided CSK to the 2011 final against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, captained by Daniel Vettori. Dhoni continued this run by taking CSK to the 2012 final against Kolkata Knight Riders, captained by Gautam Gambhir, and the 2013 final against Mumbai Indians, captained by Rohit Sharma. He repeated the achievement by leading CSK to the 2018 final against Sunrisers Hyderabad, captained by Kane Williamson, and the 2019 final against Mumbai Indians, captained by Rohit Sharma.
Rohit Sharma led Mumbai Indians to the 2019 final against Chennai Super Kings, captained by MS Dhoni, and then to the 2020 final against Delhi Capitals, captained by Shreyas Iyer.
Hardik Pandya captained Gujarat Titans in the 2022 final against Rajasthan Royals, captained by Sanju Samson, and then led GT again to the 2023 final against Chennai Super Kings, captained by MS Dhoni.
Shreyas Iyer captained Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2024 final against Sunrisers Hyderabad, captained by Pat Cummins, and then led Punjab Kings to the 2025 final against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, captained by Rajat Patidar.
Rajat Patidar led Royal Challengers Bengaluru to the 2025 final against Punjab Kings, captained by Shreyas Iyer, and has now guided RCB to the 2026 final as well.
Rajat Patidar Stars In Qualifier 1 Masterclass
Patidar, who had the honour of leading RCB to their maiden IPL title in 2025, backed that up on Tuesday in Dharamsala with a breathtaking knock of 93 off just 33 balls, powering RCB to a crushing 92-run victory over Gujarat Titans and sealing their spot in the IPL 2026 final. He is all set to become only the third captain in IPL history to win back-to-back titles on Sunday, May 31.
