India, April 16 -- Rajat Patidar went into the LSG game with RCB already building momentum in IPL 2026 and his own season already taking a very clear shape. He has not always been the loudest batter in every win, and against Lucknow Super Giants too, Virat Kohli drew much of the attention in the chase. But Patidar again played his part in a victory that kept RCB firmly in the upper half of the table and reinforced the bigger trend of his season.

That trend is simple. Patidar is leading from the front. Not in the old-fashioned sense, but in the modern T20 sense of walking into the most unstable part of an innings and bending it to his team's needs. That is what gives his numbers extra weight. He is not collecting runs in low-pressure pock...