Rajat Patidar could not have wished for a better birthday. The RCB captain, who turned 33 on Monday (June 1, 2026), was all smiles as he sat beside the IPL trophy in the press conference room in Ahmedabad.

“It is the best gift. Nothing can be better than this — to win the IPL for two successive years,” Patidar said. He added that while the team will celebrate the triumph, the focus will shift to “how we can do three in a row”.

The Madhya Pradesh player added that he has worked a great deal on his batting. The results were clear as Patidar looked more assertive and dominant at the crease.

“Before coming into the IPL, I spent a lot of time understanding my batting. I did proper net sessions. Sometimes, I was the only one at nets, and I needed bowlers. After that, I communicated a lot with D.K. bhai [RCB mentor and batting coach Dinesh Karthik] about how I could do more, trigger moments, technical changes, etc. Then I came here and executed that,” Patidar said.

Patidar stated that he drew inspiration from Faf du Plessis, his first captain at RCB. “The way Faf du Plessis presented himself, the body language, the confidence — these are things I learnt,” he said.

Speaking about the dominant show in the final, Patidar explained that dismissing the Gujarat Titans’ top-order — Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan and Jos Buttler — early proved to be crucial. “The GT batting line-up depends a lot on the top three batters. All three brought them to the final. We planned to get the top three out in the PowerPlay. We did take two wickets. They went on the back foot from there. That changed the game,” Patidar said.