A number appeared in the aftermath that never shows up on a traditional scorecard, won’t be teased across highlight reels, and is unlikely to be repeated by any broadcaster between overs. Yet it may be the clearest arithmetic snapshot of what Rajat Patidar delivered for Royal Challengers Bengaluru against the Gujarat Titans on May 26 in Dharamsala. In plain terms, it translated into a profit of ₹11.02 crore in just 33 balls. This isn’t a poetic flourish; it is an output—one that only makes sense when you understand the pressure that came before it and the way RCB’s innings was quietly built up, then decisively broken open.
To set the stage, Gujarat Titans had finished the league phase with what stood out as the tournament’s most potent bowling unit. The match itself began with RCB winning the toss at a ground widely known for rewarding sides batting second, but they chose to bowl first anyway. Their decision wasn’t random—it was a deliberate field-setting plan that fitted their bowling strengths. On paper, it looked like one of the toughest possible environments for RCB to step into, because Shubman Gill’s side only needed one strong session to turn the contest into a finish.
The equilibrium held for a while. After 14 overs, RCB were 140 for 3, with everything still balanced—an important threshold in a chase that could swing either way. Patidar was at the centre of that balance, sitting on 21 off 13, doing the measured work of a batter who understands the value of timing rather than forcing chaos. Then, in the space of a few overs, the match changed character.
The turning point began in the 15th over when Khejroliya bowled no-balls, and the innings shifted from controlled resistance to a full opening of the floodgates. In the last six overs, RCB piled up 114 runs, and the story of those overs was overwhelming: they were authored almost entirely by Patidar. In that final stretch, he wasn’t simply part of a batting group—he was the batting. Every other batter, for all their experience, ended up playing a supporting role with the bat while the game’s momentum was driven forward by his decisions and execution.
What he built in the end reads like a statement of dominance. Patidar struck nine sixes in total. Two of them carried the kind of impact that players remember when they replay footage later: a back-foot drive over cover off Kagiso Rabada, the tournament’s purple-cap holder, which left even Virat Kohli visibly stunned from the dugout, and a straight extra-cover drive off Rashid Khan from the crease, delivered with the confidence of someone treating world-class leg spin like batting practice.
Even the gaps in his innings underline the scale of the performance. Across the entire knock, he faced only one dot ball—just a single pause in the rhythm. Across 33 deliveries against the competition’s best bowling attack, he took that rest exactly once. His strike rate of 281.81 stands as the highest ever recorded in IPL history for any innings of 90 runs or more, surpassing the mark of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who previously made 103 off 37. By the time RCB finished, they posted 254 for 5, a benchmark that matters beyond this one game: it is the highest total ever recorded in an IPL playoff match, and it is also one of only five 250-plus scores in any knockout T20 match anywhere in the world.
Gujarat Titans, chasing something that looked out of reach on arrival, were dismantled quickly—especially in the powerplay. Jos Buttler, identified as their most dangerous striker, struck 29 off 11 before Josh Hazlewood cleaned him up. The damage was immediate and cumulative: both openers were back in the hut with only 27 on the board. In the end, RCB won by 92 runs, turning what was supposed to be a final-session chase into a rout.
The ₹11.02 crore verdict
When the innings is translated into the numbers behind player value, Patidar’s impact carries a headline figure that frames the match in financial terms. The WPA Impact Index priced him at ₹11 crore for the season—an act of retention that signalled the franchise’s belief in him without conditions. On a per-match basis, his cost for this specific fixture was ₹0.73 crore. Against that, the model returned a total of ₹11.74 crore in rating-adjusted worth, producing a single-match profit of ₹11.02 crore. The result placed him at the top of the field by a distance, ranked first on both worth and profit-and-loss for the match.
His batting alone generated ₹5.27 crore of player worth. But the captaincy layer is what lifts the ledger into something more unusual. Leading a knockout contest with a 93* of that quality, setting the tempo, absorbing pressure when RCB were 140 for 3, and then accelerating hard enough to tear the game apart earned a captaincy rating of 12 out of 15. That leadership contribution added ₹6.48 crore independently. In other words, the captain didn’t just contribute runs—he decided the match through timing, calculation, and nerve, shaping the contest with his presence as much as with his bat.
The display score is described as perfect within the model’s ceiling: 100 out of 100. The impact band reads historic/freak, and the value efficiency of the innings is calculated at 45.9 impact points per crore spent—an efficiency figure that, in the framework of this index, justifies the retention every time. Over the last eight IPL seasons, the team that won Qualifier 1 has gone on to lift the trophy. Patidar’s knock didn’t merely win a game; it handed RCB a statistical blueprint consistent with championship momentum.
The ₹11.02 crore figure is what the system says it is worth. People who witnessed it unfold already know it felt like something beyond a number.
Method note
All player valuations in this piece are derived from the WPA Impact Index, a model that assigns monetary worth to performances relative to a player’s auction price. Each match generates a profit or loss figure that represents the gap between what the model believes the player delivered and what a single appearance costs the franchise. Patidar’s ₹11.02 crore profit reflects both his batting contribution and a separate captaincy component that rewards match-defining leadership in knockout cricket.
These monetary figures are analytical outputs rather than records of actual financial transactions. The WPA Impact Index is used for editorial purposes and does not represent official valuations from the IPL, the BCCI, or any franchise.
