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'Kohli Is Not A Great T20 Player': Manjrekar Explains Why India Great Shouldn't Become RCB Captain

Anurag Dasgupta

Manjrekar slams Kohli [Source: @Sports_Himanshu/X.Com]Manjrekar slams Kohli [Source: @Sports_Himanshu/X.Com]

Former India cricketer and Virat Kohli's biggest critic, Sanjay Manjrekar has asserted that RCB shouldn't reappoint Kohli as their skipper ahead of the next season. Manjrekar feels that the team should look at his performance, instead of his reputation at this point of time.

Kohli has been with RCB since the inception of the league, and has led the Red Army from 2013-21, guiding them to a finale place in the 2016 season. Recently, a TOI report stated that Kohli is willing to take the captaincy of the RCB team if they don't find a suitable captaincy material in the mega auction.

Manjrekar slams Kohli once again

While Kohli is the leading run-getter in the league, and also has the most runs in a single edition of the IPL, Manjrekar feels that in recent years, Kohli has been below par and is not a great T20 batter anymore.

“Remove Virat Kohli and his stature from you mind and only look at his performances in the Incredible Premier League, his performances as a batter and performance as a captain. And think whether it’s the right decision to make him the captain again. Last season, he had a strike-rate of 150 and in the 120s in the previous seasons,” Manjrekar told ESPNcricinfo.

“This is my problem because I don’t like being emotional. I don’t want to go away from the truth with hero worship like fans. In Test cricket, Virat Kohli is out of form, but India need him. But in T20s, I don’t think he is that great a player as he was 7-8 years ago,” the cricketer-turned-commentator added.

Kohli becomes RCB's top retention

RCB released their retention list on Thursday and made Kohli their top retention for a whopping INR 21 crore. Apart from Kohli, the franchise has retained Rajat Patidar and Yash Dayal. The squad has released the likes of Glenn Maxwell and skipper Faf du Plessis.

Interestingly, the franchise wanted to retain Cameron Green, but his injury issues went against the Aussie star. In the mega auction, RCB will look to get the core side back, as they can use the RTM card to get their players. As a result, the squad has 83 crores in the purse to spend in the upcming auction.