Former Indian captain and commentator Sunil Gavaskar felt disappointed for Virat Kohli as the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain ended his captaincy stint in the Indian Premier League (IPL) without being able to win a title despite scoring tons of runs.
Kohli captained Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for the last time on Monday (October 11) in Sharjah, where the RCB suffered a 4-wicket defeat at the hands of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Eliminator of the ongoing IPL 2021 and he lost the final opportunity to win an elusive IPL title as captain.
After RCB eliminated from the IPL 14 on Monday, Gavaskar said that it is really disappointing that Kohli ended with no IPL trophies as captain, but said it could happen with anyone while mentioning the names of Sachin Tendulkar and Sir Don Bradman.
The legendary cricket further noted that there could be some sad ending to great careers too and fans' wishes are fulfilled, saying not everybody has this great fortune of going on a high.
Gavaskar told Star Sports on Monday: “It certainly is (disappointing). Everybody wants to finish on a high. Individually, you want to finish on a high. But these things don't always happen according to what you wish or your fans wish.”
He added, “Look at what happened to Sir Don Bradman. Just 4 runs needed (for 100 average), he gets out for zero in his last innings. Look at what happened to Sachin Tendulkar. He would have wanted to finish with a hundred (in his last Test) but he got 79 in his 200th Test match. The script is not always written that way. Not everybody has this great fortune of going on a high.”
Over the years, Kohli has broken numerous records in IPL with the bat and even he piled up 973 runs in the 2016 season which is still a record, and took the RCB into the finals but couldn’t win the title.
Gavaskar signed off by saying, “But can one ever dispute what he has done for RCB? He has done magnificently. There was one year where he got 973 runs in T20s in the IPL. Fell short of 27 runs for 1000 runs. That's such a rarity. Look at what he has done for RCB.
He has given RCB a kind of profile, a kind of brand recognition that very few cricketers have given to their franchise. Therefore, yes, it is sad to see him not winning. But the fact he is committed to RCB till he plays RCB just tells you his commitment to RCB.”
