Who is Rajat Patidar? The man of the moment for RCB

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batter Rajat Patidar smashed an impressive hundred for the Red Army during their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 Eliminator match, against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). As a result, RCB posted a competitive total of 207 runs in their allotted 20 overs and eventually won the contest by 14 runs.

During his marathon innings, Patidar also got lucky as LSG batter Deepak Hooda dropped him when he was at 72 off leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi’s bowling and to make it worse, the ball rolled over the boundary ropes for a four. However, that did not stop Patidar to thrash Bishnoi further. Overall, he dispatched the leg-spinner for three maximums and two fours in that over.

Rajat Patidar hails from Indore, Madhya Pradesh

Meanwhile, the right-handed batter has been a part of the RCB squad since 2021 but did not get enough chances to showcase his talent. It required a bit of fortune for Patidar to return to the Red Army camp. To note, the right-handed batter did not find any bidders during IPL 2022 mega auction. However, his breakthrough came after RCB’s Luvnith Sisodia got injured and the RCB camp decided to replace him with Patidar.

Interestingly, the swashbuckling batter is highly known for his brilliance in the longest format and he has already amassed more than 2500 runs in first-class cricket from 39 encounters. The talented batter has also played 43 List-A matches and 38 T20s. The right-handed batter recently completed his 1000 runs in T20s as he bats at a decent average of 34.42 and an impressive strike rate of 142.53.

Coming to the match, LSG won the toss and opted to have a bowl first. Skipper Faf du Plessis went early, but some decent contributions from Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik along with Patidar ensured that RCB cross the 200-run mark. For LSG, pacer Mohsin Khan was the pick of the bowlers giving away just 25 runs in his four overs.

In reply, LSG looked in the hunt for the best part with the likes of KL Rahul and Deepak Hooda playing substantial knocks. However, RCB bowlers pulled things back in the death overs and took their side to a 14-run triumph. Faf du Plessis’ men will now meet Rajasthan Royals in Qualifier 2 on Friday (May 27).