I won’t be surprised if he agrees to captain the team for 1-2 years – Harbhajan Singh expects Virat Kohli to return as RCB captain

Former Indian veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh reckons Virat Kohli could return as Royal Challengers Bangalore captain and he won’t be surprised if the former skipper agrees to lead the team for another one or two years.

Kohli decided to quit as RCB’s captain after the conclusion of the previous season and also decided to relinquish T20I captaincy duties.

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli took over the baton as RCB captain back in 2013 but could not lead the team to any IPL title. The best result under Kohli’s leadership came when he led the team to the final of the 2016 season but they could not cross the final hurdle against Sunrisers Hyderabad as they lost by eight runs.

Kohli was in sublime form in that season as he amassed 973 runs in the season, which is the most for any batter in any IPL edition in the tournament’s history.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Harbhajan said: “RCB have had big names in the past, but they are yet to win a title. I think Kohli will have to captain RCB once again. I don’t think RCB will get a better captain than him. RCB is building a new team and I’m sure they would like to have a good captain leading it. Now it’s up to Kohli whether he wants to do this again or not. I won’t be surprised if he agrees to captain the team for 1-2 years. In that time he can also groom the next captain.”

Meanwhile, along with Virat Kohli, RCB decided to retain all-rounder Glenn Maxwell and Mohammed Siraj. The Turbanator reckons Ishan Kishan or Shreyas Iyer could be captaincy prospects for Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Harbhajan said: “Kishan or Iyer would be good options for RCB, but it would be very difficult to get. They really have good futures ahead of them.”

Bhajji added Aaron Finch, Eoin Morgan and David Warner could be captaincy materials among the foreign players. Finch led Australia to the 2021 T20 World Cup title, Morgan had led England to the 2019 World Cup glory whereas Warner had led SRH to the IPL title in 2016.

“Warner is an excellent option when it comes to overseas captaincy prospects, he will score a lot of runs in that ground. He will also lead the team well, has plenty of experience. FInch is another option, just led Australia to the T20 World Cup, has not done much with the bat, but is a good captain. RCB will have an eye on Morgan as well. He is a really good captain, I’ve been with him in KKR. He is a very calm person, so not a bad option.”

IPL auction will be hosted in Bengaluru on February 12 and 13.