Former Indian opener, Aakash Chopra reckons Virat Kohli requires more backing from the support staff of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) as it has been one of the reasons for his failure as captain in Indian Premier League (IPL). While speaking on his YouTube channel, Chopra expressed that Kohli doesn’t have teh liberty of enjoying the 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 doesn’t pick the right squad and their unilateral approach to player selection has led to the downfall in not just one or two seasons but ever since its inception. RCB is yet to win IPL title and under Kohli, the franchise has not even managed to reach the playoffs in the last 3 seasons. While Virat has had a miraculous year with the bat, scoring 4 centuries in IPL 2016 wherein they reached the final, RCB has finished 8th, 6th and 8th in the 8-team table in the following seasons.
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Responding to a fan’s question on his show Aakash Vani, Chopra said, “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. 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.”
He further added, “There are no fast bowlers, who will bowl at the death, who will bat at No.5 and No.6. 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.”
Chopra also pointed out that RCB needs their support staff to step up during squad selection.
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Aakash Chopra elaborated, “Second reason is that when the Indian team captain is the skipper of your franchise, you don’t stretch his bandwidth beyond a point. 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. You have to support him, I don’t think Kohli has had that kind of support from his support staff.”
RCB did a relatively better job at the IPL 2020 auction in December when they pick players like Aaron Finch, Dale Steyn and Chris Morris as their key overseas players.
