Royal Challengers Bengaluru batter Venaktesh Iyer heaped praise on captain Rajat Patidar after the franchise secured a second straight IPL championship on Sunday in Ahmedabad. RCB\u2019s campaign had been marked by authority, and it carried a sense of continuity after ending an 18-year wait for a maiden title last year. In the 2026 final, they took on a Gujarat Titans side led by Shubman Gill and managed to keep the contest under control, limiting the Titans to 155\/8 from their 20 overs. When it was time to chase, Virat Kohli looked like the player RCB had been hoping would find his rhythm again, striking an unbeaten 75 and steering the chase to a comfortable finish\u2014an outcome that sealed victory by five wickets with two overs remaining.<\/p>\n
After lifting the trophy, Iyer spoke to NDTV\u2019s Consulting Editor Boria Majumdar and credited Patidar\u2019s leadership qualities. The admiration also carried extra weight because the two are not just IPL colleagues\u2014both represent the Madhya Pradesh setup in domestic cricket. Iyer said the Madhya Pradesh team had long held faith in Patidar\u2019s ability and believed the breakthrough was only a matter of time.<\/p>\n
\u201cPhenomenal. I think he\u2019s done what nobody believed he could do. I didn\u2019t believe he could do a few years back, pleasantly surprised by the way he carried himself on the field. It\u2019s just a matter of when, rather than if or could he. It had to happen,\u201d Iyer said. He added that this conviction was not limited to recent seasons, recalling the period when he was beginning his Ranji Trophy journey. \u201cAnd this is not me talking about 2021-22 or something. This is something that not just me, the entire MP team thought in 2016-17 when I began my Ranji Trophy days,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
Iyer also reflected on how Patidar\u2019s rise looked from the outside even when his domestic numbers were still building. \u201cThis fellow does not belong here. He belongs in the top tier. He\u2019s meant for bigger things. When he virtually hadn\u2019t even scored a lot in Ranji Trophy\u2014this is, I\u2019m talking about like 10 years back\u2014at that time, we were all thinking, \u2018What\u2019s he doing here? He should be a regular in India.\u2019 Quality, this, that. So it had to happen. Late, but good things eventually happen to good people,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
RCB\u2019s triumph placed Patidar among an elite group of captains, with the win making him only the third skipper to deliver consecutive IPL titles. The others to achieve back-to-back glory are MS Dhoni, who did it with Chennai Super Kings in 2010 and 2011, and Rohit Sharma, who led Mumbai Indians to championships in 2019 and 2020.<\/p>\n
For Patidar, the difference between title seasons came down to tempo and mindset. \u201cLast year was a lot of pressure, this year was more calm because the way we played throughout the tournament, we dominated this year. So we were pretty much confident that if we are playing like this we are definitely going to win the second title for RCB,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Royal Challengers Bengaluru batter Venaktesh Iyer heaped praise on captain Rajat Patidar after the franchise secured a second straight IPL championship on Sunday in Ahmedabad.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":13930,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_title":"IPL 2026: Venkatesh Iyer Reacts as RCB Win Back-to-Back Titles","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"RCB\u2019s back-to-back IPL glory in 2026 left Venkatesh Iyer stunned as he praised Rajat Patidar and reflected on the final vs Gujarat Titans.","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ipl"],"yoast_head":"\n