IPL Auction 2025: Virat Kohli's RCB captaincy blocked by Franchise official amid rumours
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Virat Kohli is in line to become the captain of Royal Challengers Bengaluru again, according to some sources. However, it is believed that the RCB set-up has yet not decided on their captain and will only take a final call after the IPL 2025 mega auction.
Faf du Plessis was RCB's captain for the last three seasons but the South African is unlikely to lead the team this time. There have been constant speculations that RCB will give it their all to acquire the services of KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, and Rishabh Pant, provided they enter the auction pool.
Virat Kohli is among the candidates to lead RCB but no confirmation yet
While Pant, Rahul, and Iyer are good captaincy options, it is believed that Virat Kohli is also one of the options to become the captain of the team. According to Sports Tak, the RCB management will take a final call after the auction.
The source confirmed that there is no surety on the team's captain yet but Kohli can lead the team if the management asks him to do the job later. However, it all depends on the players that RCB will be able to acquire at the mega auction.
“We did have a conversation about the future. For now, looking at the past few seasons and upcoming auction, we need to build our team. There is no surety over who will lead the team. However, if required, we may ask Virat (Kohli) to do the honours,” a source was quoted as saying by Sports Tak.
"It depends on the auction and the players we rope in. A call will be taken on captaincy only after the auction and not before," the source added.
Virat Kohli left the RCB captaincy after the IPL 2021 season. He led the team for a few matches in IPL 2023 when Faf du Plessis was unfit and had to play as an impact player. Kohli was given the full-time captaincy of RCB in 2013 and led the team till 2021.
Virat Kohli record as IPL captain
The legendary batter has led Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 143 matches in IPL in which the team won 66 and lost 70 matches. Kohli's win percentage as an IPL captain stands at 46.15%. In the list of most matches as an IPL captain, Kohli stands third on the list after MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma.
In 2016, when Virat Kohli was in his prime form in international cricket as well as the IPL, he smashed a record 973 runs in 16 matches at a staggering average of 81.08 and a strike rate of 152.
The 35-year-old smashed records to score 4 hundreds and 7 fifties during the season. His exploits as a captain took RCB to the final and were even the favorites to lift the title. However, they lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad in the summit clash.
Will RCB retain Faf du Plessis?
Faf du Plessis led RCB to playoffs twice in the last three seasons. However, the 40-year-old is unlikely to be retained this time given the franchise is looking to build a solid team for the future.
Alongside Kohli, Mohammed Siraj is likely to be the second retention for RCB. Players like Rajat Patidar, Will Jacks, and Akash Deep are also likely to be retained throught Right to Match (RTM) card.
