RCB Captain Rajat Patidar during a practice session on the eve of the final.
| Photo Credit: VIJAY SONEJI

Royal Challengers Bengaluru fans are a patient and loyal lot. Seventeen IPL editions have gone without the ultimate prize, but the support base has remained hopeful and enthusiastic.

Expectations are high as RCB hopes to break the jinx on Tuesday, even if skipper Rajat Patidar strived to keep a calm demeanour.

“No one can deny the expectations, but it is important for us to stay in the present. I always look at what is in my hands, and what we can control,” Patidar said in the captain’s press conference here on Monday.

If RCB can scale the peak, Virat Kohli’s already impressive resume will be complete. Patidar, in his first season as RCB captain, refrained from focussing too much on the superstar. “He has given a lot of years to RCB, and the international side too. We will try to do our best in the game,” Patidar said.

A large number of RCB fans are expected to turn up at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Tuesday — a sight that will please the popular team.

“Wherever we go, the crowd makes us feel like we are playing in a home ground. Our fans have shown support and love to the players. Keep supporting us, and we will all win,” Patidar said.

With PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer sitting beside him, Patidar was reminded of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final held in Bengaluru in December. Shreyas and Patidar were leading Mumbai and Madhya Pradesh respectively, in a game where Mumbai won by five wickets. Similarities there may be, but not so the weight of the occasion.

“I saw Shreyas in the morning, and said to him that this feels similar to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final. The difference is that this is the IPL final, and that was the Mushtaq Ali final,” Patidar laughed and said, indicating that the stakes have been raised.