Royal Challengers Bengaluru will reveal their IPL 2025 captain. After losing Faf du Plessis, who captained the team for three years from 2022 to 2024, RCB needs a new captain. Du Plessis, 40, was sold to the Delhi Capitals at base price because they did not place a bid for him during the auction.
Virat Kohli, who captained the side for 9 years from 2013 to 2021 before resigning, is probably the front-runner for the job. In the IPL 2023, he led RCB again for just three games.
Rajat Patidar, one of the three retained players of RCB in the 2025 IPL auction, is another option. The Madhya Pradesh batter who has been with RCB since 2021 is the most prominent contender for the job if Kohli declines. The 31-year-old Patidar captained Madhya Pradesh during the 2024–25 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy seasons.
Kohli has captained RCB in 143 IPL games so far, which is second-most for a captain in IPL after MS Dhoni. He has a record of 68 victories and 71 defeats. Kohli may not win the IPL for RCB, but he guided them to the final of the 2016 IPL with an unimaginable season in which he amassed a record 973 runs. He was also the highest-scoring player in the last IPL season, scoring 741 runs at a strike rate of 154.69, which was crucial to RCB’s late playoff run before they lost the Eliminator.
In addition to RCB, the Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders are also searching for a captain to lead their sides in the 2025 IPL. Delhi lost their captain to LSG on the auction table in Jeddah, and former DC captain Rishabh Pant is set to lead the Lucknow Super Giants. Meanwhile, Shreyas Iyer, who captained KKR the previous season, will lead Punjab Kings this year.
