Virat Kohli has captained RCB in IPL from 2013 to 2021.
AB de Villiers, ex-South Africa and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batter, has speculated that Virat Kohli might return to captain the RCB team in IPL 2025. Kohli was retained by RCB for INR 21 Crores ahead of the IPL 2025 auction, along with Rajat Patidar and Yash Dayal.
RCB made some big buys in the IPL 2025 mega auction and compiled a strong 22-member squad for the next edition of the popular T20 league. However, captaincy remains open after they released Faf du Plessis ahead of the auction and didn’t bid for him.
This leaves Virat Kohli as one of the leading candidates for captaincy, given that he performed the role successfully from 2013-2021. RCB played the final of the IPL 2016 under Kohli’s captaincy.
Former RCB batter and one of the legends of the game, AB de Villiers, seemed to hint that Kohli "will lead" the side in the 2025 season.
"I don't think it has been confirmed yet, but he will be the captain, I think, looking at the squad," De Villiers said on his official YouTube channel.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, another senior India player who has captained in the IPL, is among the options; however, the pacer has only captained Sunrisers Hyderabad on an interim basis.
Krunal Pandya, another of RCB's auction purchases, also heads the Baroda team in domestic cricket and captained the Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL 2023 when KL Rahul was injured, leading them to the playoffs.
AB de Villiers was happy with RCB's squad, though, and particularly the pace attack that the side formed throughout the auction.
"We got Bhuvneshwar Kumar, happy with Josh Hazlewood. We did miss out on a couple here and there. Rabada was close, but at least we got Lungi Ngidi. He's got a wonderful slower ball, if he is in form and fit, he is a force to be reckoned with," said the former Proteas captain.
"We missed out on Ravichandran Ashwin. CSK got him, but very happy to see him in the yellow jersey again. But all in all, I'm fairly happy. It's a well-balanced squad, we are missing a match-winning spinner but hopefully, we will be able to balance the squad in such a manner that we make Chinnaswamy a fortress. This squad should work at Chinnaswamy,” he added.
De Villiers, however, pointed out that RCB missed out on a mystery spinner, who turns the ball both ways. He stated that it can become an issue in home games later in the season next year. He suggested the franchise might rope in a spinner from the unsold players list. If that doesn't happen, de Villiers suggested BCCI to have a mid-season transfer window.
"On the road, I feel we might miss out on someone who turns both ways. We need it, and I feel we are lacking it a little bit. It reminds me a touch about the transfer window sometime in the future. I wish the IPL and the BCCI would bring out a transfer window, wherehalfwayy through the tournament, we could make transfers. You can possibly get an extra spinner into the squad, a wrist spinner, perhaps, or you could go back to the unsold list. It's something to think about," said the South African great.
(Hindustan Times inputs)