He'll be the likely heir: Not KL Rahul! Former RCB skipper picks Virat Kohli's successor at Bengaluru
Story highlights
RCB retained the likes of Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell and Mohammed Siraj ahead of the IPL 2022 auction. Former RCB captain has named who can succeed Kohli as the Bengaluru skipper.
All the eight existing IPL franchises released their retention list on Tuesday evening (November 30). The three-time runners-up Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) retained the likes of former skipper Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell and speedster Mohammed Siraj.
Hence, some popular names such as Yuzvendra Chahal, Devdutt Padikkal, Harshal Patel, etc. weren't retained. Nonetheless, the Bengaluru franchise will now look to rebuild and form a new-look RCB line-up in the upcoming IPL 2022 mega auction. Apart from bringing in some new faces, RCB will also have to name Kohli's successor.
Kohli, the leading run-getter in IPL history (6,283) runs, stepped down as RCB captain following the end of IPL 2021. He had already announced that the IPL 14's UAE leg will be his last as the franchise's skipper. Thus, the team management will have to name his successor sooner than later.
Speaking to ESPNcricinfo about RCB's decision to retain three key campaigners on the retention day, ex-Bangalore skipper Daniel Vettori suggested that Glenn Maxwell can be Kohli's successor. "Look, I think Maxwell will be the likely heir to Kohli. He obviously produced [results] in this last year and he was an exceptional player for them. He has the experience of captaining the Melbourne Stars. We talked about most teams wanting to find a captain in their retained players. It has happened too often that teams know they've got a captain, they know they can lock that away and they don't have to find one in the auction which can cloud your thinking at times," Vettori said.
"I do believe Maxwell will be named captain. It could be [for] just one season, to see how it goes but it's a pretty good stop-gap measure as they build to the future," Vettori added.
ALSO READ | IPL retention: MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli win hearts as superstar duo take paycuts ahead of mega auction
Speaking about Kohli's stint as RCB captain, he led the side to the playoffs in 2015, 2020 and 2021 and to their third final during the 2016 season. It will be interesting to see if Maxwell is given the top job or whether the Bengaluru team management will rope in someone from the auction to be Kohli's successor.