Daniel Vettori gives his verdict on whether Virat Kohli will return to RCB captaincy in IPL 2022

Virat Kohli had dropped a bomb by announcing that he will step aside as the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain when the second and final leg of IPL 2021 kicked off last year, in the UAE. After RCB lost the Eliminator to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Kohli's captaincy tenure for the three-time runners-up finally came to an end.

Kohli captained the side from 2011 -2021 (becoming the full-time skipper since 2013) but couldn't lead them to the coveted title. Under his leadership, the Bengaluru-based franchise won 64 games in 140 matches, losing as many as 69 fixtures. Their best season under Kohli came in 2016 when they lost the season-finale to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). 

Ahead of the IPL 2022 edition, RCB remain the only team who have not announced their captain yet. After the mega auction, they added some new faces to the squad and have some captaincy contenders in the form of Glenn Maxwell, Faf du Plessis, Dinesh Karthik whereas some feel Kohli might also return to the top job if he wishes to.

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Nonetheless, former RCB skipper -- and Kohli's predecessor -- Daniel Vettori doesn't feel the star player will take up the captaincy post once again. "No [Virat Kohli will not be the RCB captain again]. I think it is as simple as that. I don't think that ever works, let alone in franchise cricket or international cricket. Once the captain is moved on, the right thing is for him to move on," Vettori told ESPNCricinfo.

Vettori further revealed his choice and said, "I think they will look at Kohli, Maxwell and Du Plessis as the leadership group and even Dinesh Karthik. I think Faf will step in for Maxwell. But if they win the first three games, maybe they will continue on with him. I think Maxwell is a shorter long-term. Three years is a long-term time in the IPL. They will look at Maxwell as the three-year cycle and hopefully he continues to play as he did in the last IPL. They will factor that in that he will be the leader for three years."

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Complete squad of RCB for IPL 2022:

Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Siraj, Harshal Patel, Faf du Plessis, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dinesh Karthik, Josh Hazlewood, Shahbaz Ahamad, Anuj Rawat, Akash Deep, Mahipal Lomror, Finn Allen, Sherfane Rutherford, Jason Behrendorff, Suyash Prabhudessai, Chama Milind, Aneeshwar Gautam, Karn Sharma, David Willey.