'I was nervous before meeting them': RCB batsman calls himself lucky to have played with de Villiers and Virat Kohli
During a one-to-one session with the franchise, the batsman revealed how nervous he was when met the likes of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers for the first time.
Royal Challengers Bangalore’s new recruit Rajat Patidar was quick enough to find a regular spot in the playing XI in IPL 2021. After proving his worth in the pre-tournament practice games, the youngster from Indore became one of the bankable players of the team. Patidar got to play in 4 out of 7 games for RCB but couldn’t leave an impact. The right-hand batsman scored 71 runs, with the best score of 31.
The youngster has always liked team RCB before getting a chance to play in the cash-rich tournament. During a one-to-one session with the franchise, he revealed how nervous he was when met the likes of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers for the first time.
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“RCB has always been my favourite team because of AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli. Luckily, I got a chance to play with them. I was nervous before meeting them, but I liked it a lot after coming here,” Rajat said during an interview with RCB.
He scored a crucial 31 against Delhi Capitals in Ahmedabad, the game in which his team registered a thrilling one-run win. During his stint at the crease, he batted alongside Glenn Maxwell and de Villiers after RCB lost two early wickets. Speaking about his conversation with the two stalwarts of the game he said, “We talked about the match situation and how we can play while being calculative. We knew if we do that right, we can overcome the pressure situation. That is what we were talking about.”
Before turning into a top-order batsman, Rajat began as a spin bowler. It was his coaches who told him that he possessed decent talent with the bat. The youngster said that he started playing cricket because of batting legend Sachin Tendulkar.
“At that time, there was just one name - Sachin Tendulkar. It all started because of him. And then slowly, when I started playing, I started following others like Rahul Dravid, and, from the current lot, I like Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli a lot. I have different idols in different formats,” he said.
