IPL 2025: Virat Kohli announced as RCB captain by Suresh Raina

Former Chennai Super Kings player Suresh Raina has dropped a massive hint about Virat Kohli's return as captain for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. He said that the batter is already a captain and his comments raised many eyeballs.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) are among the teams who are yet to finalize their captain for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. Of late, there have been a lot of reports about Kohli's return as a captain, especially with no suitable option in the team currently.

Virat Kohli himself has expressed his desire to lead Royal Challengers Bengaluru in IPL 2025 - Reports

Royal Challengers Bengaluru came in the hunt for a new captain after they parted ways with Faf du Plessis ahead of the IPL 2025 auction. However, with young guns in the team, the reports claimed that Kohli himself has expressed his desire to lead the team in the next edition.

While all the talks have been going on, Suresh Raina came up with a hint. It happened during the second ODI between India and England, which took place at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. Raina's comments came just one ball before Virat Kohli got out.

‘He’s captain too this time' - Suresh Raina drops a huge hint on Virat Kohli taking over captaincy of RCB in IPL 2025

Kohli was hit on the arm when Jos Buttler threw the ball back to his keeper, Phil Salt. The English skipper immediately apologized while Kohli and Salt exchanged smiles and continued with the game. Salt, notably will be playing for RCB in IPL 2025.

This made Suresh Raina, who was doing commentary, say: ‘He’s captain too this time.’ Fellow commentator Aakash Chopra also tried to get some clarification as he asked Sanjay Bangar to ask if he could confirm. The former RCB batting coach mentioned that he did not have any such information.

The RCB management also has been silent on their captaincy candidate as well. The management also hasn't ruled out the option of Virat Kohli taking the captaincy again, and it has made many speculate about the same. The batter has been the leader of the team since 2013 and quit the captaincy in 2021.

Virat Kohli has been going through a lean patch

Coming to Kohli's form, the India National Cricket Team batter has been going through a lean patch. He failed badly in the Test season both at home as well as away. He managed just 190 runs in the five games in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 and also failed to get a big score in the Ranji Trophy 2024-25.

In the ongoing series against England, Kohli missed the first game due to a knee injury and then made a return in the second game. However, it wasn't a fruitful outing for him as he got out after scoring just 5 runs off 8 balls.

Watch: Jos Buttler's wild throw hits Virat Kohli; India star falls next ball, gives 'shocking' reaction