Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir said it was time for Royal Challengers Bangalore to look beyond Virat Kohli as their captain after the team was eliminated by Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator on Friday.
RCB have never won the title and since Kohli took over as captain eight years ago, have only qualified for the playoffs thrice. In the previous three seasons, RCB have finished in the bottom place twice.
Gambhir felt it was time for Kohli to put his hand up and take responsibility for the results.
“Eight years into the tournament [without a trophy], eight years is a long time. Tell me any other captain…forget about captain, tell me any other player who would have got eight years and wouldn’t have won the title and would have still continued with it. So it has to be accountability. A captain needs to take accountability,” Gambhir told ESPNCrinfinfo.
“Look at what happened to R Ashwin. Two years of captaincy [for the Kings XI Punjab], he couldn’t deliver and he 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’s the reason they’ve captained for such a long time because they’ve delivered. I’m sure if Rohit Sharma wouldn’t have delivered for eight years, he would have been removed as well. There should not be different yardsticks for different people,” he added.
Kohli had said that his team deserved to qualify for the playoffs this season but Gambhir argued that RCB were fortunate to make the cut on net run-rate. The former Indian opening batsman pointed to the Super-Over win over Mumbai Indians where Navdeep Saini bowled a great over, a match that easily could have gone the other way.
Gambhir also questioned Kohli’s decision to open the batting in the Eliminator, highlighting the lack of proper planning. RCB have struggled with the bat throughout the tournament and there has been a lot of pressure on AB de Villiers to deliver in the middle order. His five fifties have meant that he has won matches on his own, but when he has failed, RCB have failed too.
“He (De Villiers) was the one who actually won them two or three games out of seven. I don’t think as a unit they’ve done anything different from what they did last year. It’s exactly the same this year as well. Only because you’ve qualified for the playoffs, just because of one individual’s absolute brilliance, it doesn’t make you a strong contender to win the IPL,” Gambhir said.
Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar agreed with Gambhir about a change in guard at the helm at RCB, but felt it was the owners and not the captain who needed to make the decision.
With a rather quick turnaround between two seasons, Kohli and RCB will get a chance for redemption when the tournament returns in April, but quite clearly there’s a lot of work to be done if the results are to change.