As a result of the modest retention list of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) with only three names for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction, the rumors began to spread that the franchise might again bank on their star, Virat Kohli, to head the team. But analyzing the situation in depth, former Indian cricketer and now commentator Sanjay Manjrekar noted that it would be inappropriate to look at Kohli’s return as captaincy with a positive perspective. Given how unsatisfactory his performance as captain was, Manjrekar requested RCB fans to try and ignore the name ‘Virat Kohli’ for a short while and evaluate whether him becoming the captain would be a wise decision.
“Just because he is Virat Kohli, 95 per cent fans want him to be the captain. But if you just go by his performances, it is not that impressive. This is my problem, I don’t want to get carried away, because of hero worship, I don’t want to get away from the cricket truth,” said Manjrekar, speaking on Star Sports’ IPL retention programme.
In a recent interview, Manjrekar shared that he does not regard Kohli as one of the good T20 batsmen anymore.
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“I just have one question from the fans. If instead of Virat Kohli, there was someone else. You just remove Virat Kohli from your mind, and just look at his performance in the IPL, his batting and captaincy performance. There, why do you think it is the right decision to make him the captain?” he further added.
Kohli was RCB’s skipper for the years 2013 to 2021, during which the organization successfully made it to one final (2016).
On the other hand, while Kohli had a severe slump in his batting during the years 2020 – 2022, he has crossed the 600 run mark in the previous two years, even winning the Orange Cap in the year 2024 with a strike rate of 154.70.
In 2022 Kohli resigned from the captaincy of RCB handing the captaincy over to South African Faf du Plessis. However, with ‘du Plessis’ not being retained by RCB, there are claims that Kohli might take up the captain role once again.
