{"id":4474,"date":"2016-07-08T16:30:53","date_gmt":"2016-07-08T11:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4474"},"modified":"2026-07-17T21:05:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T15:35:31","slug":"virat-kohli-rcb-captain-ipl-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=4474","title":{"rendered":"IPL 2019: Why Virat Kohli Should Consider Stepping Down as RCB Captain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

B<\/span><\/p><\/div>

efore you lash out at me with the choicest phrases from Kohli\u2019s own colourful lexicon, hold on. Like you, I am a Virat Kohli<\/a> fan. It\u2019s nearly impossible to not be: He is a dynamic cricketer, arguably the best batsman of all time, and certainly, in my opinion, the best limited-overs batsman of our times.\n\nBut, does that make him a great captain? I have my reservations, at least as far as the Indian Premier League<\/a> is concerned. The numbers don\u2019t lie either: As of Sunday, Royal Challengers Bangalore faced its sixth consecutive defeat in the 2019 edition of IPL.\n\nSix seasons ago, Kohli became the captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore<\/a>, but his IPL trophy cabinet is still empty. Had any other captain been unable to maximise his players\u2019 potential over so many years, his job would have been on the line. Remember Gautam Gambhir? Despite leading Kolkata Knight Riders to two IPL wins, he had to step down as captain and then also drop himself from Delhi\u2019s playing XI, after just a handful of failures in IPL last year. It\u2019s no wonder then, that it was Gambhir who offered<\/a> an insight into Kohli\u2019s predicament. \u201cUltimately a captain is as good as his record,\u201d he said, adding that Kohli is \u201cvery lucky\u201d to be retained as the RCB captain despite repeated failures.\n\nGambhir\u2019s <\/a>arguments are not without substance. Apart from making it to the final playoffs in 2016, Kohli\u2019s RCB have often found themselves in the bottom half of the points table. Under his captaincy, the team has finished last, second-last, and third-last.\n\n

\u201cUltimately a captain is as good as his record,\u201d he said, adding that Kohli is \u201cvery lucky\u201d to be retained as the RCB captain despite repeated failures.<\/p><\/blockquote> \n\nRCB have looked unnerved under Kohli. Take, for instance, the randomness of their opening combination. It was Kohli who opened the batting along with Parthiv Patel in the first match this season. Then, Moeen Ali took over the role alongside Patel, who was later swapped with Shimron Hetmyer. After a few games, the team switched to their initial combination: Kohli opening the batting<\/a> along with Patel. These knee-jerk changes betray the extent of the team\u2019s inconsistencies. And, Kohli\u2019s inability to take decisions and stick with them might be his greatest undoing as captain during IPL, a format that demands clarity of thought from its leaders.\n\nKohli\u2019s statistics as an Indian skipper however, paint a completely different picture. After leading the Indian ODI side in 68 matches, Kohli boasts of a win percentage of close to 75 per cent \u2013 the most by any Indian captain who has led the side for more than 10 matches. Even the stats of two of the Indian cricket<\/a> team\u2019s greatest captains \u2013 \u00a0MS Dhoni (60 per cent) and Sourav Ganguly (54 per cent) \u2013 pale in comparison. However, he hasn\u2019t been able to find even a semblance of his international success in the IPL. After leading RCB for 100 matches, Kohli\u2019s average win percentage is a shoddy 45 per cent.\n\nIt\u2019s not to suggest that Kohli doesn\u2019t have it in him to be a good captain. But maybe, it\u2019s time to entertain the idea that being a great IPL captain isn\u2019t in him. It won\u2019t be the end of the world. Even Sachin Tendulkar, the God of Cricket, didn\u2019t warm up to captaincy. After leading India<\/a> in 73 matches, his disappointing win percentage of 35 per cent ultimately led to him stepping down. His predicament was similar during his IPL run: While Rohit Sharma has three trophies after captaining Mumbai Indians in 98 games, the Master Blaster was without one after 55 matches.\n\n\"Virat\n

\n

After leading RCB for 100 matches, Kohli\u2019s average win percentage is a shoddy 45 per cent.<\/p>\n

Image Credits: Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\nThere comes a point while solving a jigsaw puzzle when you just cannot conjure up the correct combinations, regardless of how much effort and time you invest. When such a situation arises, there\u2019s no other choice but to start from scratch with reignited energy. Just like Kolkata Knight Riders did when Sourav Ganguly, an inimitable captain, failed to translate his IPL captaincy into wins. It ultimately resulted in Gambhir<\/a> assuming captaincy in 2011 and brought KKR two IPL triumphs within four years.\n\nIt might just be the thing that could turn the fortunes of RCB. The need of the hour is fresh energy around the camp, and that is hardly possible without revamping the management \u2013 which includes the captain. Like this piece on Virat Kohli<\/a> notes<\/a>, \u201cHere\u2019s the thing about cricket. Great squads don\u2019t win matches; the right playing eleven does.\u201d And in case anyone forgot, the captain is the most significant member of that playing eleven.\n\nAs the World Cup<\/a> approaches, we need our skipper to enter the arena with a lot of positivity. That is unlikely to happen if RCB\u2019s track record is anything to go by. In the IPL, a format where Kohli doesn\u2019t have the luxury of receiving MS Dhoni\u2019s calming guidance on field, it might do him well to realise that right now and step down.\n\nWhat RCB needs is his batting genius more than his captaincy. Maybe it\u2019s best if Kohli admits to himself that his RCB captaincy will forever remain a blemish on his otherwise spotless resume. To borrow from the immortal words used for Sachn\u2019s <\/a>tenure as the captain of India in the late 90s: \u201cNahin jeetega! Chote ki naseeb main jeet nahin hai!\u201d\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Six seasons ago, Virat Kohli became the captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore, but his IPL trophy cabinet is still empty. Had any other captain been unable to maximise his players\u2019 potential over so many years, his job would have been on the line. 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