Cricket / Manjrekar names his top 3 picks for RCB captaincy after Kohli steps down

Cricket Desk: Former India batsman and now a renowned broadcaster Sanjay Manjrekar picked three cricketers who can possibly replace Virat Kohli as the next Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain for the next season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Kohli has already announced that the current edition of IPL will be his last as the RCB skipper. The India captain, who has also decided to quit India's T20I captaincy after the World Cup in October-November, however, has made it clear that he would like to continue ass a player for the RCB, a franchise he has represented for 14 years. 

Former South Africa captain AB de Villiers has emerged as one of the possible candidates to take over the RCB captaincy from Kohli but Manjrekar feels the think tank has to look at the future and appoint someone who can give his all for at least three-four years. 

“How many years could you get out of AB de Villiers as the captain? So I would like to have someone who has at least three years to offer,” Manjrekar said in an ESPNCricinfo video. 

Manjrekar said Kieron Pollard, Suryakumar Yadav and David Warner can be the three contenders RCB could look at as their new captain in the post-Kohli era. 

"Pollard is one guy who has the leadership qualities. Suryakumar Yadav and David Warner are my three contenders," Manjrekar added. 

Both Pollard and Suryakumar are currently with the Mumbai Indians while Warner represents the Sunrisers Hyderabad. 

But things could change before the next edition of the IPL as there is a mega auction set to take place with two new teams entering the competition. BCCI has not made any formal announcements but if reports are to be believed, the eight existing franchises won't be allowed to retain more than two players.

RCB, meanwhile, have not got off to an ideal start in the UAE leg of the IPL. They were hammered by KKR in the first match and then CSK got the better of them in the next match. 

RCB skipper Virat Kohli during the post-match presentation said: "The wicket did slow down a bit. But I feel we left out 15-20 runs out there. 175 would've been a winning total. Didn't bowl consistently. Didn't show that much courage I guess with the ball."

"They bowled well in the back end of the innings, executed the slower balls and yorkers nicely. We spoke of areas we didn't want them to hit and we didn't do that. That little bit of X-factor was missing in the first 5-6 overs," the 32-year-old said.

"Got to get on that winning run again. This one is a bit more disappointing. The first one we just weren't in the game. Have to show more courage in crunch moments. This tournament goes by quickly," he added.