Rajat Paditar recorded his first T20 century in a crucial time to take Royal Challengers Bangalore one step closer to the IPL 2022 final.
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Rajat Paditar did not play a flash in the pan innings on Wednesday to guide Royal Challengers Bangalore to a win over Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League 2022 Eliminator and book a spot for the Qualifier 2. His unbeaten century was always on the cards as he took no time to settle and had notched up the scores of 52 and 48 for RCB in his last five innings. The Madhya Pradesh batter was also coming into the side after a fine run for his state team which saw him notch up the score of 142 runs against Kerala in a Ranji Trophy group stage match. So what has been the journey like for Patidar and what do we know about him?
Patidar made his IPL debut in 2021 for RCB. He played four matches for the franchise but could only salvage 71 runs at an average of 17.75. His poor run saw him being released by the franchise before he went unsold in the IPL mega auction. However, destiny gave him another chance, as he was roped in as a replacement for Luvnith Sisodia after he was ruled out due to an injury and he made it count.
The Madhya Pradesh batter could have joined the family business. But he wanted to follow his passion for the game. Patidar forayed into cricket at the age of eight when his grandfather enrolled him in a cricket academy. His family has, since then, supported his cricketing aspirations. “I don’t think that the journey to IPL was that tough for me because I never thought about it from the start. I never set a goal for myself. I just wanted to enjoy my game and give my 100 per cent,” said Rajat Patidar in an interview last year.
Patidar likes to play with freedom and make his natural ability count. He is also a big admirer of Portuguese talisman Cristiano Ronaldo besides idolising the likes of Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rahul Dravid and Cheteshwar Pujara. “Of course, everybody dreams of playing for India. My biggest aim is to play Test cricket for the nation. I love it a lot,” said Rajat Patidar, who has played 39 first-class games for Madhya Pradesh, scoring 2588 runs at an average of 40.43.
