RCB Captain Announcement IPL 2025 Live Updates: Royal Challengers Bengaluru to get new captain today

RCB also acquired some big names such as Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, Tim David, Jitesh Sharma and Phil Salt in the auction but none of them clear-cut favourites to take over from du Plessis as their new captain. Hence, there is rising chatter about Kohli’s return as RCB captain.

Kohli was the RCB captain between 2013 and 2021 before stepping down as Faf du Plessis took over. Kohli has a fine record as RCB captain, though he could not land them the title. The 36-year-old has led RCB in 143 matches, the second-longest stint as captain after the legendary MS Dhoni for Chennai Super Kings. Kohli has 68 wins and 70 losses and four no-results to show as RCB leader. In 2016, Kohli had led the franchise to the IPL final, and made 973 runs, to date the highest for a batter in a single IPL season. In IPL 2024, Kohli was the top run-getter with 741 runs at a strike rate of 154.

Kohli is 38 himself but there is no question about his fitness. The question here is, will Kohli agree to return to a leadership role? He let go of India’s captaincy and RCB leadership almost around the same time and hasn’t led in a single game since the start of 2022. He also declined to lead Delhi on his Ranji Trophy return after 12 years last month.

“I’m not someone who holds onto things more than I should. Even if I know I can do a lot more, if I’m not going to enjoy the process, I’m not going to do it,” Kohli had said on “The RCB Podcast”. “I wanted some space and I wanted to manage my workload and the story ends there.”

What are the other options RCB have if it’s Virat Kohli? The first name that comes to mind is Rajat Patidar. Patidar was among RCB’s retained players ahead of the auction and has the experience of leading Madhya Pradesh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy. The 31-year-old Patidar had guided Madhya Pradesh to the SMAT final, where they lost to Mumbai by five wickets. He was also the second-highest run-getter, behind Ajinkya Rahane, with 428 from 10 matches at an average of 61 and a strike rate of 186.08.