Rajat Patidar has created history in IPL. Photo: AP

Before their encounter against the Rajasthan Royals, wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma stated that Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper Rajat Patidar‘s greatest task is to get the team’s first victory at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. This season, RCB has played three games at home and has lost each one of them.

Jitesh Sharma on Rajat Patidar

While speaking with JioStar, Jitesh referred to Patidar as a receptive captain and claimed that his success this IPL season was due to his straightforward leadership style. However, Jitesh said that getting the team’s first home victory this season was Patidar’s biggest challenge.

“There’s still one big challenge in front of him—securing our first win at Chinnaswamy this season. But the belief in the camp is strong,” Jitesh Sharma said on JioStar ahead of the RCB vs RR clash.

Regarding Patidar’s leadership, Jitesh went into great depth and stated that the new RCB captain was receptive to suggestions from others.

“Rajat is a very simple person. He’s easy to talk to—you wouldn’t even notice him in the dressing room. It’s only when we step on the field that you realise he’s the captain. That’s just his personality—calm and composed under pressure. He can assess situations from multiple angles. As a wicketkeeper, whenever I go up to him with suggestions, he engages right away, asking questions like, ‘What can we do if this happens?’ It shows how calm and in control he is. That’s one big reason behind his current success,” Jitesh said.

Jitesh has amassed 101 runs at a strike rate of 140.28 from 8 IPL games thus far. After a disappointing season at Punjab Kings last season, which resulted in him being released from the team, the keeper-batter has been able to recover his form. The batter will be crucial to RCB’s victory over RR in their upcoming home match. Winning their first match at M Chinnaswamy Stadium this season would be RCB’s top priority.