Parthiv Patel, wicketkeeper-batsman of Royal Challengers Bangalore has said his IPL captain Virat Kohli was ‘defensive’ in taking decisions in IPL over the years but stressed he wasn’t the only one to be blamed for the franchise’s poor show in the tournament since he took over RCB’s captaincy in 2013 onwards.
Virat Kohli scored 466 runs in 15 games averaging 42.36 but at a below-par strike rate of 121.35 with 3 fifties. On the other hand, Parthiv Patel didn’t feature in a single match although he played 14 games in the previous season in 2019. The likes of Josh Philippe who played in 5 games were preferred instead. AB De Villiers also donned the wicket-keeper’s role in most of the games.
Parthiv Patel: Virat Kohli Is Very Attacking Player But Was Slightly Defensive As Captain Of RCB
RCB had a very balanced combination in IPL 2020 unlike other years with their death bowling sorted out with Navdeep Saini, Dale Steyn, Isuru Udana, Chris Morris, Mohammed Siraj and Umesh Yadav in the squad. But the likes of batsman Australian skipper Aaron Finch scoring only 268 runs in 12 games and Moeen Ali scoring only 12 runs in 3 games hurt them.
“He is very attacking player himself. He likes to get on with it. I thought he was slightly defensive in taking those decisions as a captain. Other than that, he has been a very successful India captain, no doubt about it. But if you look around RCB’s records in eight years, it is obviously been a long, long time,” Parthiv told cricket.com.
Parthiv Patel added that he wasn’t speaking from former cricketers Virender Sehwag or Gautam Gambhir’s perspective. Virender Sehwag had earlier backed Virat Kohli to stay as captain while Gautam Gambhir has wanted him to be replaced as skipper at both the franchise and the T20I team of India.
“I am sitting at this point of time neither in (Virender) Sehwag’s shoes nor in Gautam Gambhir’s shoes. The franchise should decide on it. I don’t think as players, we have anything to say about it.”
Royal Challengers Bangalore were runners up in 2009, 2011 and 2016 which were their best performances in IPL history. They finished 8th in 2017 and 2019 and 6th in 2018.
Parthiv Patel Personally Felt That RCB Had A Team Capable Of Winning IPL 2020
Parthiv Patel, who didn’t play a single match this season, said with the involvement of Simon Katich and Mike Hesson, Virat Kohli cannot be blamed alone for RCB’s poor run in IPL although everyone in the team felt they could win the tournament in 2020.
“I personally felt that we had a team that could win the tournament. Everyone in the camp felt it. We had all the bases covered. Sometimes the playoff games just don’t go your way. Scoring 130 in a playoff game, we came very close. I thought we fought really hard. But as I said, you can’t just blame the captain. There are a lot of other things as well – there is director of cricket, there is head coach – there are a lot of other things involved in it. To blame the captain is also not true (right),” he said.
“I personally feel he (Kohli) should not be the only one held responsible for RCB not winning. The role of Mike Hesson, Simon Katich – quite experienced coaches, been there and thereabouts. There isn’t just one factor that is responsible. I feel Virat is not the only one who is responsible for RCB not winning.”
Royal Challengers Bangalore though managed to qualify for playoffs but were defeated by SunRisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator by 6 wickets. They lost their last 5 games including Eliminator to bow out of IPL 2020.