Ahead of India’s pink ball Test match that sees Virat Kohli’s return to Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy stadium, Royal Challengers Bangalore have put up a teaser stating that they have a few updates up their sleeves.
The 29 second teaser has Virat Kohli starting to talk about big updates for the Bangalore franchise before it is cut short for the big reveal on 12 March - the day India begin their Pink Ball encounter. The Bangalore based team is currently without a captain and fans have been speculating for months about who could succeed Virat Kohli. It was reported that RCB would be looking at Shreyas Iyer in the 2022 meg-auctions as a possible replacement, but the player was picked up by Kolkata Knight Riders for an exorbitant price of Rs 12.25 crore.
The franchise has attained the services of Faf du Plessis and Dinesh Karthik, players who have captained their respective teams in international cricket and Indian Premier League in the past, but the management has quite clarified or even hinted at who could potentially take over.
The teaser had RCB fans speculating over a potential candidate with many predicting that Australian Glenn Maxwell could be handed over the baton considering his close proximity with Virat Kohli. Others suggested that Mohammad Siraj could emerge as an unlikely candidate due to the faith that RCB have shown in him and how he has turned that into credible performances for both his franchise and India in the international circuit.
Barring Maxwell and Siraj, only du Plessis and Virat Kohli himself remain to be legitimate options for RCB who will be looking to turn around their fortunes and get hands on the elusive IPL trophy going into the permanent 10-team season.
RCB play their first match against Punjab Kings on Sunday, March 27 at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.