Home Articles Virat Kohli to step down as Royal Challengers Bangalore’s captain after IPL...
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A few days after stepping down as the captain of Team India’s T20I team, Virat Kohli has announced that he will leave Royal Challengers Bangalore’s captaincy after the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021. The only player to represent just one franchise in every IPL season, Kohli has been leading RCB on a full-time basis since 2013.
“This will be my last IPL as captain of RCB. I’ll continue to be an RCB player till I play my last IPL game. I thank all the RCB fans for believing in me and supporting me,” he said while making the mega-announcement.
Although he is IPL’s highest run-scorer, an IPL trophy continues to elude Kohli. Under him, RCB haven’t had a great run. Under him, RCB failed to clear the league stage in 2013 and 2014. They did qualify for the second round of IPL 2015 but crashed out after losing to Mumbai Indians in the 2nd Qualifier.
Next year, Kohli carried the team into the final with 973 runs at 81.08. He struck 4 centuries and 7 half-centuries in that season. But the dream of winning the IPL title remained unfulfilled as RCB lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad in the summit clash.
The Bangalore-based franchise crashed out from the league stage of IPL 2017, 2018 and 2019. In 2020, they made it to the 2nd round but crashed out after losing to Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator.
The franchise is placed at the 3rd spot in the points table in the ongoing season and holds a great chance of making it to the 2nd round again.
The 2nd-most capped captain in IPL, Kohli has led RCB to 60 wins in 132 matches. He is confirmed to lead them in at least 7 more matches.
The only batsman to breach the 6000-run mark in the league, Kohli has scored 6076 runs in 199 matches. During the league stage fixture against Kolkata Knight Riders tomorrow (September 20), Kohli will become the first RCB player to don 200 IPL caps.
