South Africa legend AB de Villiers feels Rajat Patidar’s biggest challenge while leading Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) during the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season will be dealing with insecurity.

RCB released Faf du Plessis, who led the team for three seasons from IPL 2022 to 2024, ahead of the mega auction. In February earlier this year, Patidar was appointed the new captain of the franchise.

De Villiers, who was part of the RCB camp for 11 IPL seasons, feels Patidar must push away constant doubts about himself.

“Patidar’s biggest challenge will be insecurity, stepping into the big boots of captains like Faf and Virat (Kohli). Having Virat around and constantly almost doubting yourself – ‘Am I doing the right thing? What would Virat do?’ So that I think will be his biggest obstacle,” de Villiers said during a virtual press room session with JISTAR.

The 41-year-old advised Patidar not to try to captain like Kohli or du Plessis and keep reminding himself that there must be a good reason for the franchise to pick him as the captain. “Use the experience of Virat, use the experience of Andy Flower, but always stay true to who you are,” he added.

Unnecessary criticism of Kohli’s batting

Kohli has a strike rate of 131.97 over the 17 IPL seasons, which, on several instances, has invited criticism from experts. However, De Villiers believes that Kohli has faced unnecessary criticism regarding his batting despite playing exceptionally well in recent years. However, he suggests that the star Indian batter may have been somewhat affected by the external noise.

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“Virat, being a great team man and only a human being after all, definitely has those doubts in his head. But the one thing about Virat is he’s always had the ability to, when it matters most, cross that line for his team, block everything out, and it’s business time (sic). He might have called his time in T20Is, but there’s plenty left for Virat, and with the batting lineup this season, I don’t think Virat is going to feel a lot of pressure,’ he said.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Virat Kohli during a practice session ahead of IPL 2025.
| Photo Credit:
PTI Photo/Shailendra Bhojak

Kohli played a crucial role in India’s successful run in the 2025 Champions Trophy, scoring an unbeaten 100 against Pakistan and an important 84 in the semifinals against Australia. De Villiers believes that Kohli is currently enjoying his batting and sees no need for him to increase his strike rate, especially when opening the batting alongside Phil Salt.

“Phil Salt is one of the best attacking players in the IPL. I think it’s going to take a lot of pressure off Virat. All he needs to do is to keep doing what he’s been doing for so many years – control the game. He’s got the best instincts: when to take more risks, when to take less risk.

“He needs to captain this batting department, keep things together, and play smart cricket – he’s got a lot of explosive power around him.”