AB de Villiers has said that Virat Kohli will once again lead the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the IPL.
RCB released Faf du Plessis who led the side since IPL 2022. With Faf out there’s no other likely name in RCB’s squad after the mega auction to lead the side other than Kohli.
Virat Kohli was appointed as the RCB captain for the first time in 2013. He stepped down from captaincy back in 2021 after that Faf was appointed as the captain of the franchise.
Under Kohli’s captaincy, RCB qualified for the playoffs four times. They ended up as the runners-up in 2016. Kohli also led the Indian cricket team from 2014-2022 across all three formats. India played in the 2019 World Cup semi-final and 2017 Champions Trophy final under Virat Kohli’s captaincy.
Ab de Villiers: I think Virat Kohli will be RCB captain in IPL 2025
On his YouTube channel, de Villiers said, “I don’t think it has been confirmed yet, but he will be the captain, I think, looking at the squad”.
Talking about RCB’s squad, he further added. “We got Bhuvneshwar Kumar, happy· with Josh Hazlewood. We did miss out on a couple here and there. Rabada was close, but at least we got Lungi Ngidi. He’s got a wonderful slower ball, if he is in form and fit, he is a force to be reckoned with”.
We missed out on Ravichandran Ashwin. CSK got him, but very happy to see him in the yellow jersey again. But all in all, I’m fairly happy. It’s a well-balanced squad, we are missing a match-winning spinner but hopefully, we are able to balance the squad in such a manner that we make Chinnaswamy a fortress. This squad should work at Chinnaswamy”.
AB concluded by pointing out that RCB lacks a spinner who can turn the ball both ways (wrist spinner). He suggested that the BCCI should introduce a mid-season transfer window in the league. It will allow teams to trade in players from other franchises or the unsold list.
