Despite Virat Kohli’s marvellous achievements in international cricket as captain, his career in the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been quite opposite over the years.
Under the captaincy of Kohli, the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have reached the playoffs only twice in seven seasons. They have been the bottom-ranked side twice, and seventh-ranked once in the other five editions.
When asked whether the franchise is pondering over Kohli’s replacement as captain, RCB Chairman, Sanjeev Churiwala, gave a remarkable reply.
“Virat is the Indian captain. And has the highest fan-followers. We all love Virat and love to be associated with Virat. Look, this is what (the) game is: sometimes you lose, sometimes you win, but let’s not forget what that individual is and what kind of track record he has. As RCB, as an RCB owner, we are very, very proud that Virat is associated with us.” Churiwala told Hindustan Times.
“Without getting into specific names, on the matter of what was in our minds – very clearly, we were buying out to ensure that we can create a core XI. Each and every player has a meaningful role to play, whether they’re in the XI or not in the XI,” he added
In the season where they finished as runners-up, Kohli slammed four tons on his own. It is the improper balance between heavyweight batsmen and frail bowling options which has haunted them in the past.
“Number two, we also wanted to ensure that we have a proper balance between the batting side and the bowling side. We wanted to ensure that there’s strength on both sides. We had identified internally a couple of weaknesses we wanted to work upon, without getting to the specifics, some of the players we’ve chosen this time is to ensure that we stick to that. One of them was that the core players are national players, that’s what we’ve stuck to also this time,” concluded Churiwala.
