In a battle between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Kolkata Knight Riders, who were led by new captains, on Saturday in the IPL 2025 opener at the iconic Eden Gardens, Rajat Patidar's men emerged as winners, handing the defending champions a seven-wicket loss at home. Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra credited Patidar for the win and also outlined his supremacy, which was compared with IPL greats MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

Speaking on his YouTube channel on Sunday, Aakash admitted he was wrong about Patidar, who was handed the responsibility to lead RCB in IPL 2025 last month. While he had his apprehensions about the new skipper in the match against Kolkata, led by Rahane, a veteran and a former India captain, which he reckoned were true in the opening 10 overs of the game, a stunning comeback from RCB in the remainder of the match saw Aakash change his opinion. The former KKR batter was also in praise of Player of the Match Krunal Pandya for his economical show in the middle overs.

"I was wondering how would Rajat Patidar fare as a captain. I honestly felt he missed a trick. The first three overs were good. In the fourth over, he brought Salam, and then had Krunal in the fifth. I was thinking, 'Don't do that.' Rahane capitalised and kept scoring runs, and they reached 100 in 10 overs. KKR should have scored 200, but that is where the comeback began. Thumbs down for Patidar's captaincy in the first 10 overs, but then it looked like the match could head the other way. I mean, Krunal took three wickets. We kept saying, RCB's weakest link was their spinners. But that became their strength. Krunal was good despite an expensive first over. Suyash was delivering very loose balls, but he dismissed Russell. KKR eventually did not even score 175. They will be disappointed," he said.

'Rahane missed the trick'

Aakash expressed disappointment regarding Rahane's performance as captain in his inaugural match for KKR. Despite scoring an impressive half-century that aided Kolkata's recovery following Quinton de Kock's early exit, Rahane struggled to make effective decisions while defending a total of 173. Aakash specifically criticized Rahane for delaying the introduction of Sunil Narine into the bowling attack, which allowed players like Virat Kohli and Phil Salt to establish themselves at the crease.

"I had concerns about Patidar, which were validated in Rahane's case. Why was Narine not brought in sooner? What was the hold-up? Runs were being scored, yet KKR postponed Narine's entry. Rahane overlooked a crucial strategy there. A poor performance for KKR, while RCB deserves commendation," he remarked.

The seasoned Indian cricketer also commended Patidar's dominance over Narine, noting that he scored nine runs off five balls against the spinner, including a six. In their encounters during the IPL, Patidar hit a total of three sixes against Narine. Aakash pointed out that in 13 years of IPL competition against Narine, Rohit, Kohli, and Dhoni collectively managed only four sixes.

"Patidar was impressive. He faced just 14 balls from Narine and hit him for three sixes. To put this in perspective, Rohit, Kohli, and Dhoni have played against Narine for 13 years and have only managed four sixes combined. Patidar's dominance over Narine was evident. Overall, it was a lackluster start for Kolkata," he concluded.

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