One of the most decorated cricketers in the international arena, Virat Kohli is still in search of his maiden IPL title with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). The only player to represent same franchise in every single season of the IPL, Kohli recently entered the elite club by making 200 appearances in the cash-rich tournament.
The 32-year-old has played three IPL finals with RCB since the inception of the league. The 2016 edition was his best-ever campaign with the Bangalore-based franchise.
After Kohli’s recent announcement of stepping down from RCB captaincy after IPL 2021, fresh reports have emerged that he could be removed mid-way through the ongoing season in UAE.
The Royal Challengers lost their reverse fixture against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by nine wickets. They got bundled out a paltry 92 while batting first.
After the match, a former India cricketer on anonymity told IANS that there is a possibility ‘Kohli could be removed as RCB captain during this IPL’ if he has another bad game. He cited examples of how other franchises have sacked the captain of their teams in the past.
“Look at the way he was playing against Kolkata Knight Riders. Just clueless! It seems he is struggling big time right now. There are chances that he could be removed mid-way through the season. It has happened earlier also with other teams – like with Dinesh Karthik in KKR and David Warner in Sunrisers Hyderabad, among others. They were either removed or they stepped down mid-way. So it can happen in RCB as well… I have this feeling after watching yesterday’s match. One more bad game and you can see a change in RCB captaincy right away,” the former cricketer told IANS.
South Africa veteran AB de Villiers is the second-biggest name behind Kohli in the team, so he could lead RCB in the remaining games.
