“I have tried my best to create a culture here where youngsters can come and play with freedom and confidence,” Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli said in his swansong after the heartbreaking loss to Kolkata Knight Riders. IPL 2021 Eliminator. You can argue very little with that statement, especially if you see the reincarnation of Glenn Maxwell this season or Devdutt Padikkal, KS Bharat, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shahbaz Ahmed, Mohammad Siraj, Washington Sundar (who didn’t play) due to injury. The reason being the UAE leg, but the past few seasons have been excellent) and of course Purple Cap winner Harshal Patel.
However, the same cannot be said about the captain as far as his batting is concerned. Ironically, Kohli has not batted with the freedom that is usually the hallmark of a great batsman like him. Especially in the 2020 and 2021 seasons where his unusually conservative approach stunned fans and experts alike. His strike rate in the last two seasons is around 120 which is much lower than his career strike rate in IPL (around 130). RCB captain scored just 6 fifties in 30 matches and only a few of them came in the cause of victory
Kohli said in his reply, “I don’t know how the reaction has been, but I have given 120 per cent to this franchise every time, which I will do now as a player.” With the franchise as the captain. Is it necessary for Kohli to win the (ICC) trophy to confirm his greatness as captain? This writer asked former Pakistan captain Rameez Raja just before the World Test Championship final against New Zealand in the month of June. “Trophies matter because good captains usually win a lot of trophies. A great leader is also about winning moments, especially in moments of crisis. Imran also won the Nehru Cup in India which was a kind of mini world cup. Kohli has to establish his authority in terms of the trophy,” Raja had said then. Just replace the word ICC with IPL and their answer won’t make any difference in this context either. After all, it was the trophies that led to Gautam Gambhir being (even reluctantly) accepted as the best captain and Rohit Sharma being seen as India’s future captain.
Time and again, head coaches ranging from Ray Jennings to Daniel Vettori and Simon Katich (although RCB have officially stated that the Australian stepped down on his own for personal reasons and that press release did not quote Katich). was sacked, countless assistant coaches were sacked. Fired (which also included a close friend and mentor Ashish Nehra), eminent players were dropped and young talent was overlooked and yet nothing changed for RCB. The only thing that didn’t change surprisingly was the captain who is such a clear pattern in a highly result-driven tournament like IPL where Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag and even That is the most powerful name like Dhoni. (for Pune Supergiants) Not spared because of his illustrious reputation as a player or captain.
Against that backdrop, Kohli should consider himself extremely fortunate to have survived almost a decade despite having nothing to show in his cabinet. Perhaps, it was the greatness of the RCB owners that the franchise did not remove him from the captaincy despite just four playoffs in his 8-year reign and a solitary final appearance in 2016. Just to give you another perspective, let us consider another important one. Fact – Before Kohli took over RCB, the team had already reached IPL finals twice and one semi-final to boot in five years.
Not only that, over the years the owners have deliberately chosen to ignore the history of strange cricketing decisions taken by Kohli since 2013. He had gambled on Yuvraj Singh (in 2014) before the famous stabbing he apparently had on his chief, Dinesh. Karthik has some such cases in the next year 2015. The latest in this saga was the release of Chris Morris, who he bought for Rs 10 crore after the 2020 campaign. And yet, they went for almost the same amount of money as Morris when he bid at the 2021 auction! Maybe, the coach and the owners realized their mistake and perhaps wanted to send a message to the captain that not only was Morris excellent at the time of his death, but he had transformed the team when he made it to the playing XI in the second half of 2020. was created. Season.
Similarly, Kohli saw no value in English all-rounder Moeen Ali and released him before the last auction, even though the English all-rounder had the better balls per boundary percentage (4.8) in the middle overs (7-15 overs). ) compared to Kohli (12.2) since IPL 2019. It looked like MS Dhoni was waiting for Ali as Chennai Super Kings went after him in the auction and Ali’s aggressive cameo at the top of the order is one of the reasons for CSK’s resurgence this season.
Surprisingly, Kohli also failed to recognize the talent of KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal who hail from Bangalore and still went on to different teams and emerged as match winners. When assessing the greatness of a legacy other than runs and trophies, this small and important factor will also be taken into account. When the dust settles, Kohli will quietly reflect on his time as RCB captain and he will quip to himself that despite being Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers and himself, he can reach the final in 2016. how and why?
Overall, even former India players or even neutral observers have been silent in assessing his captaincy, with one serious exception, who didn’t mince words after RCB’s exit last year, “I have against Virat Kohli. There is nothing but somewhere, he needs to raise his hand and say, ‘Yes, I am responsible, I am accountable’. Or Sunil Gavaskar (who doesn’t hesitate to question Kohli’s tactical mistakes).
Last but not least, very few will remember that last year Kohli himself resigned to the fate that RCB’s turnaround of fortunes was beyond his capabilities. “Maybe a little nervous, maybe a little hesitation, we need to be more expressive with the bat,” Kohli said after his team was ruled out of the race for the final in 2020. A year later, the same thing happened again. A little nervousness, a little hesitation and not enough expression against Sunil Narine and KKR cost his team. 100 percent or 120 percent effort, some results simply don’t change for RCB or captain Kohli in IPL.
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