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Known for his outspokenness, the hero of India’s two world titles made it clear that Kohli’s name as leader should not be taken in conjunction with people like Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Rohit Sharma, who are the most successful IPL captains.
When asked if Kohli should be removed from the RCB captaincy, Gambhir told ‘ESPNCricinfo’, “100 percent, because the problem is one of liability. 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 would have turned eight years old and would not have won the title and still would have continued with him.
You may not have been cheering us on from the stands, but we could feel your presence in every game, 12th Man Army … https://t.co/7vSSfMCh1s
– Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) 1604716296000
“So it has to be responsibility,” said Gambhir, who led KKR to two IPL titles in 2012 and 2014, on the ‘Time Out’ show.
Gambhir has been a staunch critic of Kohli’s IPL leadership over the years, but insisted there is nothing personal.
“… but at some point, you have to raise your hand and say, ‘Yes, I am responsible. I am responsible.’
Gambhir then cited the example of Kings XI Punjab, who showed no patience with Ravichandran Ashwin after the veteran offside failed to serve as captain for just two seasons.
“Eight years is a long, long time. Look what happened to R. Ashwin. Two years of captaincy (for the Kings XI Punjab), he couldn’t deliver and was fired.”
Together through the ups and downs. It has been a great journey for us as a unit. Yes, things did not go as we wanted but … https://t.co/5RVuk3VrV6
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For someone like Rohit, who is on the cusp of his fifth title, a long season as captain of the Mumbai Indians has only been possible because he has delivered, Gambhir said.
“We talk about MS DhoniWe talked about Rohit Sharma, we talked about Virat Kohli … not at all. Dhoni has won three titles (IPL), Rohit Sharma has won four titles, and that is why they have been captains for so long because they have delivered.
“I am sure that if Rohit Sharma had not served for eight years, they would have eliminated him as well. There should be different criteria for different people.
Gambhir said it bothered him to see Kohli’s reluctance to accept the ball stopping before him.
“You are the leader, you are the captain. When you get the credit, you have to take the criticism too.”
He even went so far as to say that RCB did not deserve to qualify for the play-offs after four consecutive defeats.
“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.”
Gambhir said that RCB has increasingly become a side of just two people: Kohli and Villiers AB.
“And then they should have had a squad, probably if Virat wanted to open, they should have picked a middle-order hitter at auction. But again it was Virat and AB (de Villiers).”
Only de Villiers pulled off some winning performances to prevent RCB’s season from turning into a total disaster.
“Imagine if AB had a bad season, tell me what would have happened to RCB,” Gambhir said.
“He was the one who really won 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 as well.
“Just because you’ve made the playoffs, just because of the sheer brilliance of an individual, it doesn’t make you a strong contender to win the IPL.”
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