Contrary to everyone’s expectations, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) announced Rajat Patidar, not Virat Kohli, as their captain for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. Kohli led RCB from 2011 to 2021. Before taking on the captaincy, he played under four captains, with Rahul Dravid being his first in IPL 2008. He resigned from the captaincy ahead of the 2022 season when Faf du Plessis took over the responsibility of leading Bengaluru.
Virat Kohli has played under in IPL
- Rahul Dravid
- Anil Kumble
- Kevin Pietersen
- Daniel Vettori
- Faf du Plessis
- Shane Watson
- Rajat Patidar*
Virat Kohli stepped down from RCB captaincy
Virat Kohli had stepped down from the RCB captaincy after 2021 stating that he want to manage his workload. RCB then handed the captaincy to South African player Faf du Plessis. In the IPL 2025, they did not retain the player and opted for a new captain Patidar to lead in the upcoming season.
“I’m not someone who holds onto things more than I should. Even if I know I can do a lot more, if I’m not going to enjoy the process, I’m not going to do it,” Kohli said on “The RCB Podcast” back in 2021.
“Because it’s very difficult for people to understand your decisions unless they are in your situation. From the outside, people have their own expectations ‘Oh! How did that happen? We are so shocked.”
“There’s nothing to be shocked about. I explain to people, I wanted some space and I wanted to manage my workload and the story ends there.”
Virat Kohli captaincy record in IPL
Virat Kohli’s IPL captaincy record reflects his leadership at Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), where he led the team in 143 matches, winning 66 and achieving a win percentage of 46.15%. Notably, he remains the only player to have captained RCB in more than 100 matches.
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