Gautam Gambhir, former India starter and two-time IPL winner, believes it is time for the Royal Challengers Bangalore to look beyond Virat Kohli as captain. Gambhir made his comments on ESPNcricinfo’s T20 Time Out show after the Royal Challengers lost the Eliminator to Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets, ending their season with seven wins and eight losses. Since finishing runners-up in 2016, the Royal Challengers finished at the bottom in two of the last three seasons, 2019 and 2017, as well as finishing sixth in 2018. This time, they reached the playoffs in net career rate despite a Strong began his campaign but crashed Friday night with his fifth straight loss after failing to defend 131.
Under Kohli’s captaincy since 2013, the Royal Challengers have made the playoffs three times in eight seasons. Gambhir said it was time for Kohli to raise his hand and take responsibility for the results.
When asked if he would change the captaincy if he were in charge of the franchise, Gambhir said: “100%, 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 would have continued with him. So it has to be responsibility. A captain must take responsibility.
“It’s not just about a year, it’s not just about this. I have nothing against Virat Kohli, but at some point, he should raise his hand and say, ‘Yes, I am responsible. I am responsible.’
“Eight years is a long, long time. Look what happened to R. Ashwin. Two years of captaincy [for the Kings XI Punjab], was unable to give birth and was removed. We talk about MS Dhoni, we talk about Rohit Sharma, we talk about Virat Kohli … not at all. Dhoni has won three [IPL] titles, Rohit Sharma has won four titles, and that is why they have been captains for so long because they have delivered. I’m sure if Rohit Sharma hadn’t been eight years old, they would have eliminated him too. There shouldn’t be different criteria for different people.
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“The problem and the responsibility start from the top, not from the management or the support staff, but from the leader. You are the leader, you are the captain. When you get the credit, you also have to accept criticism.
“You can keep saying ‘we qualified for the playoffs and we deserved to qualify for the playoffs’, absolutely not. RCB never really deserved to qualify for the playoffs. If you look at the last four or five games, and even that Super Over against the Mumbai Indians , they were very lucky that Navdeep Saini did it brilliantly, otherwise they didn’t have a great season, from a hitting and bowling point of view.
“Eight years is a long time. It’s not that Kohli is inexperienced. He captains India, captains the team he plays for, but you have to deliver results, you have to deliver. Sport is about delivering.”
The Royal Challengers opened batting with Kohli for the first time this season on Friday, after 14 games. Gambhir said that if Kohli had to start, it should have happened from the start of the season, rather than changing the starting combination into a must-win game.
“There was a lot of talk about Virat Kohli opening batting, if you wanted to open batting, you should have done it from the beginning of the tournament,” Gambhir said. “And then they should have had a squad, probably if Virat wanted to open, they should have picked a middle order hitter at the auction. But again it was Virat and AB [de Villiers]. “
The Royal Challengers’ confidence in Kohli and de Villiers continued. Although their top scorer this time was 20-year-old starter Devdutt Padikkal with a total of 473, closely followed by Kohli (466) and de Villiers (454), an inexperienced middle order meant they were once again reliant on From Villiers for strong finishes. De Villiers turned five half centuries, including one on Friday, and finished the 2020 IPL with a hit rate of nearly 159.
“Imagine if AB had a bad season, tell me what would have happened to RCB,” Gambhir said. “He was the one who really beat them two or three games out of seven. I don’t think as a unit they have done anything different than what they did last year. It’s exactly the same this year too. Just because you have qualified for the playoffs. Just because of the sheer brilliance of an individual, it doesn’t make you a strong contender to win the IPL. “
Former Indian batsman and current commentator Sanjay Manjrekar agreed with Gambhir on the show about the required leadership change for the Royal Challengers, but said the responsibility for that lay with the franchise owners.
“The responsibility is not so much with the captain, it has to be with the owners because they are the people who appoint the captain and decide what kind of leadership they want for the team,” Manjrekar said. “A couple of years ago I had made this comment that when you look at what is wrong with RCB, you will see that the results are not good at all and what has been the same has been the leadership in the team. For a long time. Daniel Vettori was Virat’s coach, and the captain has been the same.
“If you want to change the scenery and change the results, you have to change the captain. But I don’t expect Virat Kohli to raise his hand and say, ‘I haven’t delivered.’ I want the owners to do their job.
“If RCB is not winning the title, I will first hold the owners accountable for not having the right leader to maybe give them the winning results and planning that has gone all the way.”
Gambhir also said he pitied the franchise’s support staff, who have changed over the years, while the captain remains the same. Gambhir said it was “very difficult” for someone like Simon Katich and Mike Hesson because if the coaches or team directors were “forceful” and called for the captain to be removed, “they will be the first to be removed.” .
“Hopefully this could be the final kind of … where the penny will fall for the franchise. So good luck to RCB,” Manjrekar said.
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