# Why Rajat Patidar Is the Most Dangerous Middle-Overs Batter in IPL 2026

URL: https://technosports.co.in/why-rajat-patidar-dangerous-batter-in-ipl-2026/  
Published: 2026-05-27  
Updated: 2026-05-27  
Author: Ankush Mallick

There have been **1,370 sixes** hit in **IPL 2026** — already a record for a single season, **76 more than last year** and **110 more than the season before**, with three matches still to be played. As sixes become more commonplace, they become proportionally less remarkable. You need to do something genuinely spectacular to hit a truly memorable one these days.

## When Even Kohli Goes Slack-Jawed

And you need to do something several levels above spectacular to make **Virat Kohli** cover his mouth with his hand and go slack-jawed.

**Rajat Patidar** hit a shot like that on Tuesday night in Dharamsala. It came off a good-length delivery from **Kagiso Rabada** — fifth-stump line, the kind of ball a quality batter might meet on top of the bounce and punch through the covers. **Patidar** transferred his weight onto his back foot, opened his hips, and — barely seeming to move — drove the ball. Not through the covers. Over them. Bat following all the way over his left shoulder, ball soaring over the boundary cushions, the digital hoardings, the camerapersons’ moat, and approximately ten rows of spectators before disappearing into the crowd.

![Rajat Patidar](https://images.technosports.co.in/2026/05/Patidar-1024x683.jpg)

The shot — the sixth six of his innings — took him to **61 off 22 balls**. It was only the beginning.

## A Night Unlike His Others: Scratchy Start, Incandescent Finish

**Dharamsala** had prepared a crack-ridden, two-paced pitch for Qualifier 1. Bowlers were finding the ball skidding through from length on some occasions and gripping and kicking sharply on others. After a **76-run powerplay**, **Royal Challengers Bengaluru** had slowed dramatically — scoring just **52 for 2 from overs 7 to 13**. **Patidar** was at the crease for much of that period, looking quite unlike himself.

Then came the 14th over. GT offered two chances. A skied leading edge, and then a straightforward chance at deep square leg from a pull that didn’t come off the middle — put down by **Rabada**. By the middle of the 15th over, **Patidar** had muscled his way to **22 off 14 balls** without striking anything cleanly.

What happened next was the kind of sequence that only a handful of batters in the world are capable of producing.

| Patidar’s Innings — The Transformation | Balls | Runs |
| --- | --- | --- |
| First 14 balls (scratchy phase) | 14 | 22 |
| Next 19 balls (explosion) | 19 | 71 |
| **Final total** | **33** | **93 not out** |

**71 runs off 19 balls.** He went from scratchy accumulation to an assault that lit up the Himalayan night sky.

He hit sixes in every direction against every kind of bowling off every length. A good-length ball from **Rashid Khan** disappeared over extra cover. A low full-toss from **Mohammed Siraj** was carved one-handed over backward point. A near-yorker from **Prasidh Krishna** — the kind of delivery that usually pins batters to the crease — was shovelled straight back down the ground off the back foot with a bottom-handed whip that defied the geometry of the delivery.

By the time he was done, **Patidar** had made the **quickest of the 25 scores of 90-plus** produced in **IPL 2026** — **93 not out off 33 balls** at a strike rate of **281.81**. During his innings, [**RCB’s** ](https://www.royalchallengers.com/)other batters and extras combined for **68 runs off 37 balls**. He was operating at a different level to everyone else on the field.

## The Broader Picture: A Transcendent Season

Tuesday night was the highest individual point of what has been a genuinely exceptional season from **Patidar** — one that has redefined the bar for middle-order batting in the **IPL**.

| Patidar’s Middle-Overs (Overs 7-16) Ranking — IPL 2026 | Strike Rate | Position |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Finn Allen | Higher | Opener |
| Vaibhav Sooryavanshi | Higher | Opener |
| Ryan Rickelton | Higher | Opener |
| **Rajat Patidar** | **206.66** | **No.3 — best non-opener** |
| Ishan Kishan (next best non-opener) | 185.50 | Middle order |

![](https://images.technosports.co.in/2026/05/Rajat-Patidar-in-IPL-Playoffs-819x1024.jpg)

Among the **50 batters to have scored at least 100 runs in the middle overs** this season, only three have struck faster than **Patidar’s** **206.66** in that phase — **Finn Allen**, **Vaibhav Sooryavanshi**, and **Ryan Rickelton**. All three are openers.

The next-best non-opener, **Ishan Kishan**, has struck at **185.50** in the middle overs. In runs-per-over terms, **Patidar** has been scoring at **more than a run per over quicker** than the nearest non-opener equivalent. That gap is not marginal — it represents a structural advantage that **RCB** have built their entire batting philosophy around.

## The Powerplay Basher’s Mentality: What Makes Patidar Different

From watching **Patidar** bat, and listening to how he describes his innings, a clear picture emerges. He brings a **powerplay batter’s mentality** to the middle overs — the same combination of supreme confidence in his methods, supreme indifference to risk, and supreme ball-striking ability that characterises the most dangerous openers in the game, applied to a phase of cricket that typically demands greater caution.

Generally, **Patidar** tends toward one of two modes: total devastation, or early dismissal. It is rare for him to spend extended time at the crease struggling for fluency. Tuesday was the exception — and even then, what followed demonstrated why those scratchy phases rarely define his innings.

He is particularly renowned for dismantling spin. It has become so well-known that **GT** took **Rashid Khan** out of the attack the moment **Patidar** came to the crease on Tuesday — even though the world’s best T20 spinner had figures of **0 for 8 in two overs** at that point. A bowler at the peak of his powers, removed from the equation simply because of who was at the crease.

When **GT** eventually brought **Rashid** back in the 16th over, **Patidar** confirmed their fears immediately — two sixes in the over.

And when the best fast bowler available is **Rabada** in the best rhythm of his **IPL** career — and he bowls a perfectly good delivery, fifth stump, good length — and the ball still clears the stands by ten rows of seats, there is very little left in the tactical armoury.

![](https://images.technosports.co.in/2026/05/Patidar-1-1024x683.jpg)
*Rajat Patidar*

On nights like Tuesday, **Patidar** makes the opposition look not merely outplayed, but helpless. Their best plans are not countered — they are rendered irrelevant.

Read More: [How Royal Challengers Bengaluru Reinvented Themselves Into Champions](https://technosports.co.in/how-rcb-reinvented-themselves-into-champions/)

## FAQs

### What was Rajat Patidar’s score in Qualifier 1 against Gujarat Titans?

Patidar scored 93 not out off 33 balls at a strike rate of 281.81 — the fastest of any 90-plus score produced in IPL 2026, hit during a Qualifier 1 that RCB won to advance to the final.

### What is Patidar’s middle-overs strike rate in IPL 2026?

Patidar has struck at 206.66 in the middle overs (overs 7-16) — the best of any non-opener among the 50 batters with 100-plus runs in that phase. The next-best non-opener, Ishan Kishan, is at 185.50.

### How dramatic was Patidar’s shift in the Qualifier 1 innings?

After reaching 22 off 14 balls in a scratchy phase during a difficult pitch, Patidar scored 71 runs off his next 19 balls to finish on 93 not out off 33. The acceleration — from borderline unconvincing to fully incandescent — happened within a single over.

### How did Gujarat Titans try to stop Patidar — and did it work?

GT removed Rashid Khan from the attack the moment Patidar arrived, despite Rashid having conceded only eight runs in two overs. When they eventually brought him back in the 16th over, Patidar hit two sixes from the over, confirming exactly why the tactical caution had been applied.

### How many sixes have been hit in IPL 2026 overall?

IPL 2026 has already set a new record with 1,370 sixes — 76 more than last season and 110 more than the season before — with three matches still remaining at the time of writing.