IPL Auction 2025: Virat Kohli to become RCB captain after being retained for 21 crores? Mo Bobat breaks silence
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Virat Kohli expectedly became the first retention pick for Royal Challengers Bengaluru ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction. The franchise retained the star India player for INR 21 crore and announced their decision before the deadline on October 31.
A few days ago, there were reports suggesting Virat Kohli taking up the responsibility of being the RCB captain again. After his retention has been officially completed and Faf du Plessis not being retained, RCB's Director of Cricket Mo Bobat has finally spoken on the topic of captaincy.
Mo Bobat speaks on Virat Kohli's chances of becoming RCB captain
While speaking on Jio Cinema, Mo Bobat did not give the assurance to make Virat Kohli the captain but didn't deny either. He claimed that RCB is open to various options and will only decide upon the captaincy after the IPL 2025 auction.
“I am sorry to disappoint everybody listening. We have not made any decision related to captaincy or on that (Kohli returning as skipper) as yet. We are open to options," Mo Bobat said.
"The only obvious decision we made was not to retain Faf (du Plessis). He did a great job last year and the year before that. So from our perspective, we will keep a very open mind when we head to the auction,” Mo Bobat added.
Faf du Plessis was RCB's captain for the last three seasons. Under his captaincy, the team made it to the playoffs twice, in 2022 and 2024. However, Faf was never a long-term captaincy option despite his decent performances with the bat.
Du Plessis is 40 now and RCB is looking for a captain who can build a team and serve for a long time. Virat Kohli has led the franchise previously as well. He was appointed the full-time RCB captain in 2013 but gave up the captaincy after IPL 2021
Players retained by RCB
Meanwhile, as opposed to the other teams, Royal Challengers Bengaluru retained just three players. Virat Kohli was the highest-paid among the list of retained players with INR 21 crore. The other two players Rajat Patidar and Yash Dayal were retained for INR 11 crore and INR 5 crore respectively.
Andy Flower speaks on retaining Yash Dayal
RCB's head coach Andy Flower was pleased with the way things panned out. He expressed his delight to retain the left-arm seamer Yash Dayal and claimed that his skills will be useful for RCB's bowling attack.
"We are thrilled to retain Yash Dayal, an extraordinary talent whose career is on an upward trajectory. His unique ability as a left-arm bowler, capable of swinging the ball in both directions, adds a valuable dimension to our bowling attack - one that is increasingly rare in the auction landscape," Flower said.
While Yash Dayal was retained, it was a surprise not to see Mohammed Siraj ignored by the franchise. RCB are left with INR 83 crore at the auction and will be looking to sign some big players to their squad.
