The director of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) side, Mo Bobat, has revealed that amidst all the whispers around the potential decision of Virat Kohli to return to the leadership position of the franchise for the upcoming 2025 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the management is yet to take a call on the new captain of the side.
The last couple of years have been decent from the RCB team’s point of view. In the previous edition of the event in 2024, their six back-to-back victories in the season saw them qualified for the playoffs, while in 2023, the team finished at the sixth position and missed their tickets to playoffs by just one win.
Going into the mega auction of the IPL 2025, they retained just three players in the form of their opening batter and the brand of the side, Virat Kohli, the middle order batter Rajat Patidar, and the uncapped left-arm fast bowler Yash Dayal, in the team.
The fans expected the RCB to bid for the big names like the opening Indian batter, KL Rahul, or the wicket-keeper batter, Rishabh Pant, and the middle-order batter of the side, Shreyas Iyer. They also didn’t use the right-to-match card for their former captain, Faf du Plessis, who went to Delhi Capitals for a price of INR 2 crore.
RCB director discloses message of Virat Kohli after IPL 2025 mega auction
They also didn’t use the RTM card for their England explosive opening batter, Will Jacks, who became a steal pick for the Mumbai Indians for the price of over INR 5 crore. The director of the side, Mo Bobat, revealed that their most oldest player of the side, Virat Kohli, has sent them a little feedback after the first day of the mega auction in Jeddah via a text message.
Kohli is currently in Perth for the opening Test of the five-match series of the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 against Australia, as he celebrated his 30th century in the format. India claimed victory in the contest with a huge 295-run margin.
“Virat sent a few text messages on his feedback after Day 1 of the auction. He has lots of insight about players. He is always part of planning and all that. We haven’t made any decisions on the captaincy. We will give it a thought after the auction, and we know what our squad looks like.” The RCB director reckoned.
The franchise wasn’t prepared to use their RTM cards at most of their old players in the form of Faf, Glenn Maxwell, who went to the Punjab Kings, or Mohammad Siraj, who has found his new base in the Gujarat Titans (GT) franchise.
For a long time, one of the weakest zones for the franchise has been their bowling. Having played most of their games at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, it becomes incredibly tough for the bowlers to depend on any score. That is one of the reasons they pay more attention to the bowlers.
Also Read: Ravichandran Ashwin ‘Excited’ To Work With MS Dhoni In IPL 2025 On Return To CSK Family
RCB has included the power hitters in the form of Liam Livingstone, the wicket-keeper batter Phil Salt, and the pace-bowling all-rounder Romario Shepherd. They have strengthened their bowling unit with the return of Josh Hazlewood, young Rasikh Dar Salam, and veteran Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
The young explosive lower middle order hitter of India, Jitesh Sharma, and the veteran spin all-rounder, Krunal Pandya, have also found a new base in the RCB set-up. Jacob Bethell is another exciting 21-year-old spin all-rounder from England.