After Virat Kohli quit captaincy, RCB is looking for a leader for IPL 2022 season.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will undergo several transformations before entering the next edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Virat Kohli, who was leading the side for nearly a decade, declared that IPL 2021 was his last season as captain of the RCB franchise, citing heavy workload as the reason for his decision.
With AB de Villiers’ retirement from all forms of the game, it has now become a difficult task to look for a new captain in the upcoming mega auction. On that note, let’s take a look at three top captaincy contenders for Royal Challengers Bangalore.
David Warner
Three orange caps, six seasons with 500+ runs, one IPL trophy in 2016 as captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) – the Australian opener ticks every box, Royal Challengers Bangalore is looking for.
Sunrisers Hyderabad’s former captain will be going straight into the auction pool this year. He had an underwhelming IPL 2021 season as he was sacked from SRH captaincy and was later dropped from the playing XI as well. However, soon after the conclusion of IPL 2021, the Australian batting star, in the T20 World Cup 2021 proved why he is still the best in his job, ending the marquee event as the Player of the Tournament award.
David Warner‘s captaincy record is brilliant as he led SRH to an IPL victory over RCB in 2016 and helped them reach the playoffs in the following years. Warner’s captaincy style will definitely help RCB proceed further in the tournament as we have already witnessed how good he is on field. The energy he brings on to the field will complement Virat Kohli’s energy. However, getting him would be a difficult task as the inclusion of two new franchises would definitely make things complicated.
Shreyas Iyer
The former captain of Delhi Capitals suffered an injury during a match between India and England last year which saw him missing the first half of IPL 2021, as he had to undergo surgery.
Rishabh Pant was given captaincy duties in his absence and he did extremely well in that role, if one put aside a couple of tactical mistakes. He led DC to become the table-toppers of IPL 2021, after which the management decided to stick with Pant as their regular captain.
Shreyas Iyer, on the other hand, asked the franchise to release him ahead of the mega auction as he is looking to lead a franchise in the tournament. He is a proven champion and definitely a captaincy material – something that RCB and the two new franchises – Lucknow and Ahmedabad – would be looking for.
The Mumbai-born player took captaincy duties of DC from Gautam Gambhir midway in the IPL season and since then he hasn’t looked back. He led the team to two consecutive playoff appearances in 2019 and 2020. He also helped them reach the finals in 2020, where Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians got the better of them.
Iyer has been brilliant as far as tactical decisions are concerned, which is the need of the hour for Royal Challengers Bangalore, given their disastrous run in the tournament over the years. The age factor also favours the Mumbai lad as he turned 27 in December and is still in the early stages of his career, which can help him serve the franchise for a longer period.
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Glenn Maxwell
The Australian all-rounder is one of the top contenders for replacing Kohli as captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore. He impressed the audience and management alike in his maiden season for the Bengaluru outfit, having smashed 513 runs in 15 matches at an average of 42.75.
Apart from that, he is one of the most senior players in the current squad as well and has prior experience of leading a team, as he led Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League (BBL), the Australian T20 tournament.
Maxwell, in the past, has played in the IPL for other franchises such as Delhi Capitals and Kings XI Punjab but it is only at RCB that he has rediscovered his form and paid back the faith reposed in him by the team management.
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