Virender Sehwag, unlike his former India opening partner Gautam Gambhir, believes Royal Challengers Bangalore shouldn’t replace Virat Kohli as captain for the next edition of the Indian Premier League.
RCB have never won the IPL title and under Kohli, who took over as captain in 2013, they have reached the playoffs just thrice, reaching the final once. In 2020, their campaign came to a close after defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Debate: Should trophy-less Royal Challengers Bangalore continue with Virat Kohli as captain?
However, Sehwag reckons Kohli’s captaincy isn’t to blame for RCB’s failure to win the IPL title. The franchise should rather focus on strengthening the squad.
“A captain is only as good as his team. When Virat Kohli captains India, he is able to deliver the results. He wins matches – ODIs, T20Is Tests. But when he captains RCB, his team is not able to perform,” Sehwag told Cricbuzz.
“It is very important for the captain to have a good team. So, I believe the management should not try and think of changing their captain and rather think of how they can improve this team. Think of who all should be added to the team to make sure their performance improves,” he added.
This year, RCB lost five matches in a row and were knocked out by SRH in the Eliminator. In the previous three seasons, RCB have finished in the bottom place twice.
Gambhir had said that the franchise must look beyond Kohli as captain if they want to get their hands on the elusive trophy.
“Eight years into the tournament [without a trophy], eight years is a long time. Tell me any other captain…forget about captain, tell me any other player who would have got eight years and wouldn’t have won the title and would have still continued with it. So it has to be accountability. A captain needs to take accountability,” Gambhir told ESPNCrinfinfo.
“Look at what happened to R Ashwin. Two years of captaincy [for the Kings XI Punjab], he couldn’t deliver and he was removed. We talk about MS Dhoni, we talk about Rohit Sharma, we talk about Virat Kohli...not at all. Dhoni has won three [IPL] titles, Rohit Sharma has won four titles, and that’s the reason they’ve captained for such a long time because they’ve delivered. I’m sure if Rohit Sharma wouldn’t have delivered for eight years, he would have been removed as well. There should not be different yardsticks for different people,” he added.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!