Cricket / What is Virat Kohli's record as RCB captain in IPL?

Cricket Desk: It’s the end of an era but not on a high note! Royal Challengers Bangalore lost to Kolkata Knight Riders by four wickets in Qualifier and got knocked out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021. With this, Virat Kohli’s career as RCB captain also came to an end. Ahead of the season resumption, Kohli had announced that he’ll step down as RCB skipper after the completion of the competition.

While Kohli and his boys did their best to take RCB to the elusive title, they fell short once again. This means the talismanic Indian batter will never get to lift the IPL title as RCB skipper. With Kohli being one of the greats of the game, it’s indeed a disheartening fact for cricket fans worldwide. Notably, the 32-year-old will continue to serve RCB as a player.

However, one won’t see him going out for toss and taking those DRS calls. Kohli’s first leadership assignment in IPL was marked in 2011. He had led the side as regular skipper Daniel Vettori was injured. The New Zealander led Bangalore in the following season as well. However, after some mediocre outings, Vettori dropped himself from the playing and Kohli got the reins.

The Delhi-born cricketer RCB’s permanent captain in 2013 and an era got underway. Kohli delivered regularly with the bat and played one sensational knock after another. He even impressed one and all with his leadership skills. However, he couldn’t do the ultimate job, taking RCB to title. Overall, he led RCB in 140 games, taking them to glory 66 times. While RCB lost 70 games in this period, four encounters got washed out.

Meanwhile, Kohli, after taking over as full-time captain, has taken RCB to playoffs thrice in nine seasons. In this period, the Bangalore-based franchise enjoyed its best season in 2016 as they finished runners-up. However, the Challengers don’t have much to show in other seasons.

Kohli, during his leadership tenure, did exceptionally well with the bat. In fact, his tally of 4881 runs in the most for any captain in IPL. Big guns like MS Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma and David Warner and behind Kohli in this elite list.