Former India batsman Aakash Chopra said Virat Kohli hasn’t got the support from Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) team management and that is one of the reasons for his failure as captain in Indian Premier League (IPL).
Aakash Chopra, speaking in his YouTube channel, said Kohli doesn’t kind the same kind of support that MS Dhoni gets from Chennai Super Kings (CSK) team management when it comes to picking players and handling the auction.
Chopra said RCB don’t pick the right team and their unilateral approach to player selection has led to the downfall in not just one or two seasons but over a period of time.
RCB have never won an IPL title and under Kohli the franchise has struggled for top 4 finishes in the last 3 seasons. While Kohli had a miraculous year with the bat, scoring 4 hundreds in IPL 2016 wherein they reached the final, RCB have finished 8th, 6th and 8th in the 8-team table in the following seasons.
Responding to a fan’s question on his show Aakash Vani, Chopra said one can’t expect miracles from Kohli if the team isn’t picked properly.
“He [Kohli] is surely not a successful IPL captain. The team has not done well, it is actually a fact. And it is not one or two years, but many seasons,” Chopra said.
“There are manifold reasons for that. First thing is that they don’t pick the correct team. If you see their squad’s strength, you can observe glaring mistakes. You can punch holes in them.
“There are no fast bowlers, who will bowl at the death, who will bat at No.5 and No.6. They have never addressed these problems.
“It is a top-heavy batting team, always a thin bowling lineup, the same Yuzi Chahal, just the same fast bowler, that’s about it.
“If you don’t pick the team properly, don’t expect miracles from a captain.”
‘Impossible for Kohli to spoonfeed RCB at auctions’
Chopra also pointed out that RCB need their support staff to step up during squad seslection.
“Second reason is that when the Indian team captain is the skipper of your franchise, you don’t stretch his bandwidth beyond a point. This is with regards to once again the squad selection. The other people need to do a very good job at the time of squad selection.”
“I am sure MS Dhoni would have given the CSK management a list of 3-4 players to be picked and left the rest to the support staff, when he was the Indian captain.”
“It is almost impossible for you to sit in the auction and spoon feed the management to pick a particular team. You have to support him, I don’t think Kohli has had that kind of support from his support staff,” Chopra said.
RCB did a relatively better job at the IPL 2020 auction in December, picking up the likes of Aaron Finch, Dale Steyn and Chris Morris as their key overseas players.
Kohli, during a social media chat with RCB teammate AB de Villiers, said he is not going to leave the franchise till he plays in the IPL while acknowledging that the team has come close to winning the title but haven’t managed to get their hands on the elusive trophy.
“It’s been 12 years and it’s such an amazing journey, so surreal. You have been here 9 years yourself. For a lot of people, it’s all about obviously we want to achieve the ultimate goal for RCB. We have come close thrice but haven’t made it.
“That’s always gonna be our dream together and I was just thinking there is no way in any scenario that I can ever think of leaving this team. Because of the love and care, the franchise has shown. You can feel emotional about the season going well or not but to have that loyalty with Bangalore, with RCB its quite surreal. Till the time I play IPL, regardless of how we play, I’ll never leave this team,” Kohli had said.
