Royal Challengers Bangalore qualified for the Indian Premier League playoffs this season after 3 years. The much-maligned team initially impressed as they won 7 of their first 10 matches. But a slump in recent games resulted in the team narrowly qualifying for the playoffs in fourth place. They eventually lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator and the loss resulted in some criticism directed at Captain Virat Kohli.
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Former India hitter and two-time IPL captain Gautam Gambhir said it is time the 32-year-old took responsibility for the results and expressed his desire to trade Kohli as captain of RCB.
“100 percent, because the problem is one of responsibility. Eight years after the tournament [without a trophy], eight years is a long time. Tell me any other captain … forget about the captain, tell me any other player who had turned eight and had not won the title and still had continued with him. So it has to be responsibility. A captain must take responsibility, ” Gambhir told ESPNcricinfo.
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On the other hand, Virender Sehwag supported Kohli, saying that he is a good captain who is being disappointed by an unbalanced team. Kohli’s RCB teammate Parthiv Patel was asked about Kohli’s captaincy and said he feels Virat shouldn’t be responsible for the team’s loss.
“He himself is a very attacking player. He likes to move on. I thought I was a bit on the defensive making those decisions as captain. Other than that, he has been a very successful captain of India, without a doubt. But if you look at RCB’s records in eight years, obviously it’s been a long, long time, ”Parthiv told cricket.com.
“I am not sitting in Sehwag’s shoes at the moment (endorsing Kohli to continue as captain) nor in Gautam Gambhir’s shoes (replacing Kohli as captain). The franchise should decide. I don’t think that as players we have anything to say about it ”.
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Kohli emerged as RCB’s second best racer with 466 races, including three half centuries. After starting the tournament quietly, Kohli found his rhythm, but it is his captaincy that has always drawn criticism. Their captaincy record in India is decent, but when it comes to IPL, since he took office in 2011, with Kohli RCB they have reached the final only once. Parthiv, however, feels that blaming the captain alone is unfair.
“I personally felt that we had a team that could win the tournament. Everyone in the camp felt it. We had all the bases covered. Sometimes playoff games just don’t go your way. With 130 points in a playoff game, we were very close. I thought we fought really hard. But like I said, you can’t blame the captain. There are also many other things: there is a cricket director, there is a head coach, there are many other things involved. Blaming the captain is not true either, ”said the wicketkeeper’s batter.
“Personally, I think he (Kohli) shouldn’t be the only one responsible for RCB not winning. The role of Mike Hesson, Simon Katich – quite experienced coaches, been there and there. There is no single factor responsible. I feel that Virat is not the only one responsible for RCB not winning ”.
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