For the first time since 2013, Virat Kohli will turn up in the Indian Premier League (IPL) without the additional responsibility of captaincy.

Kohli had relinquished RCB’s leadership following the IPL 2021 season and the baton has now been passed to Faf du Plessis, who was roped in by the franchise for INR 7 crore at the mega-auction last month.

Sharing his views on the RCB captaincy, Rajasthan Royals (RR) off-spinner R Ashwin said it’s a good decision but he expects Kohli to be back as skipper next season.

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“Faf is more like towards the end of his IPL career. Maybe, he has two-three years left with him. And they have made him the captain, which is quite a good decision. He brings in a lot of experience and in fact, he has himself said that we can see a bit of MS Dhoni’s touch in his captaincy skills,” Ashwin said on his Youtube channel.

“I feel that since Virat Kohli has undergone a lot of stress as a captain in the last few years, this year will be like a break for him and they might appoint him as a captain next year is my guess," he added.

Notably, Virat Kohli has also quit India’s T20I and Test captaincy while he was sacked as ODI skipper last year. With him being relieved of national captaincy across formats, it is being said that Kohli might return as RCB captain in the coming years.

During his stint, Kohli led RCB to 64 wins and 69 defeats while the team failed to lift the IPL title during those eight seasons.