Rajat Patidar flips the script to show his class

“Still in his Test form”

“Patidar is meant to make ducks”

“No Chinnaswamy, No party for Star Boy Rajat Patidar”

Memes rained down when Rajat Patidar was dismissed for a three-ball duck in the season opener against Chennai Super Kings on March 22 (Friday). After all, prior to that, his last five scores at the Test level were 0, 17, 0, 5, and 9. 

He was perhaps the most trolled Indian cricketer, and the trolls got more opportunities over the next few days. Following his duck, he scored an 18-ball 18, four-ball three, and a 21-ball 29 in his next three innings. 

It was far away from the imagination of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) fans, who had stanned (obsessive fan) the 30-year-old Patidar as the best thing to have happened to the franchise after Virat Kohli. 

His skillset against spin was quite impressive, and the way he took on bowlers was equally viewed with reverence. But his start to IPL 2024 was such that he could only score 50 runs, average 12.5, and strike at an all-time low of 108.7 in the first five games.

Patidar wasn’t this bad even in his debut season, where he scored 71 runs in 5 innings, but such was the turn of events that someone who was high on confidence back as recently as four months ago was now suffering to put bat on ball. 

All those fans who stanned him were now wanting him to get dropped. 

But then everything changed when he walked out to bat in the best conditions for batters - the Wankhede Stadium. It is perhaps the truest condition for the batters year after year at the IPL. Even the bounce at the venue is so true that you can close your eyes and swing, because you will get value. 

When a batter is on such low confidence, all you would hope for is a loose delivery upfront, and that’s exactly what he got against Mumbai Indians. Akash Madhwal delivered it on his pads, and Patidar hasn’t looked back ever since scoring that four. 

He took on leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal first for a massive six before hitting Hardik Pandya into the second tier, making Kohli turn his head in astonishment. It was a knock of the highest order, and it seemed like Patidar was back to form with a 26-ball 50. 

Ten days later, he followed it up with a stellar knock in a mammoth run chase against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). In that innings, it genuinely felt like Patidar was taking all the trolls seriously. One particular aspect of that knock was his ability to crack open the skull against a leg-spinner. 

Against Suyash Sharma alone, Patidar smacked 30 runs OFF JUST NINE BALLS. It felt like every ball the leg-spinner delivered would travel to the moon and back, with a strike rate of 333.33. It was Patidar’s casual way of saying that he was back! 

It felt like everything was clicking for Patidar. 

And then came the clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 25 (Thursday); he walked in at 65/2 in the seventh over of the innings. By then, Mayank Markande had already left his impact on the clash, with an over of the highest order. 

On a wicket where other bowlers struggled, it felt like Markande had aced the conditions. He got the ball to grip and slowly turned past one of the most destructive batters out there, Will Jacks. 

But on just his second delivery of the day, Patidar made his intentions clear with a four. In the proceeding over, it was one better, with a six. But it was his second over against Markande that caught the eye of one and all. 

Patidar went wild. 

The leg-spinner tossed the ball in a bid to get it to grip, but it didn’t matter as Patidar waited to loft the ball nonchalantly over the long-off region for a six. Markande bowled it quicker, but that didn’t make a difference either, with the right-hander smashing a six over the long-on region. 

Being put under pressure, Markande immediately turned towards googly, a weapon that had yielded him four wickets this year. Before today, Markande’s googlies averaged 18. But not against Patidar, who easily picked it, depositing it towards the mid-wicket region for another six. 

Three sixes in, Markande was already looking to finish his over. He didn’t pace up; he slowed it down and moved away from his arc. That was yet again futile, with Patidar smashing another monstrous six, making it four in a row. 

With that, in his last 22 deliveries against leg-spinners in IPL 2024, he'd scored eight sixes, striking at 318.1. 

At that point, in 88 balls, Patidar had scored 193 runs against leg-spin overall, averaging 64.33. 

If you were wondering if the IPL history has ever seen a more destructive batter than Patidar against leg-spinners, then the answer is quite simple: NO. 

Amongst all batters in IPL history (min 175 runs), Patidar has the best strike rate, 219.3. 

"Nothing like that; I was just planning my innings in between; I wasn’t thinking about the milestone. It was not a plan, I started well in that over, and I just wanted to maximise that,” Patidar told the broadcasters Star Sports when asked if came in with a premeditated plan.

Patidar's game against leg-spin is what's differentiated him from all the other power-hitters that the league has seen. In the last two years against the bowling type, Patidar has smashed 19 sixes, the most for any batter. 

“I think my plan against spin was to take him on and put pressure on the bowler,” he added. 

On the night, Patidar did not just put pressure. He absolutely decimated Markande. To the extent that it almost felt like there aren’t too many better than Patidar against leg-spin. At least not as destructive and pleasing to the eye as the Madhya Pradesh-born batter. 

With the blitz, Patidar was back, and so was RCB’s non-existent middle-order.

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