As Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) announced only three retentions ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction, reports emerged that Virat Kohli could be the favourite to lead the franchise once again. However, in a thorough analysis of the situation, former Indian cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar pointed out that Kohli returning as captain may not be the best decision. Manjrekar asked RCB fans to forget the name ‘Virat Kohli’ for a moment, and analyse whether him becoming captain would be a sensible choice.
“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.
Manjrekar stated that he does not consider Kohli a great T20 player 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. Then you think whether it is the right decision to make him the captain,” he added.
Kohli led RCB from 2013 to 2021, a period in which the franchise reached one final (in 2016).
While Kohli suffered a big dip in his batting between 2020 and 2022, he has scored more than 600 runs in the last two seasons, even winning the Orange Cap in 2024, at a strike rate of 154.70.
Kohli stepped down as RCB captain in 2022, handing over the reigns to South African Faf du Plessis. However, after du Plessis wasn’t retained by RCB, reports have emerged that Kohli may return as the captain.