Ahead of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s first game in IPL 2021 phase 2 their captain Virat Kohli declared that this will be his last season as the captain of Challengers side. As soon as he declared the news cricket pundits around the world started guessing who could replace VK as the captain. Joining the trend former India cricketer turn commentator Sanjay Manjrekar picked three RCB players who can lead the side after Virat.
Surprisingly Ab de Villiers was not one of the picks by Manjrekar and he gave a valid reason for that as well. “How many years are you going to get out of AB (de Villiers) as captain and player? So I would like to have someone that has at least three years to offer.”
Sanjay Manjrekar’s top three picks for RCB’s next captain
- Kieron Pollard
- Suryakumar Yadav
- David Warner
“I know Pollard is no spring chicken but he is one guy that I feel has the leadership qualities. You should always spot a person from a team that has established leaders. So I pick Pollard as a contender. Suryakumar Yadav could be one from the auction and David Warner is another guy,” Manjrekar said.
In IPL 2022, two new teams will be added to the league and thus a mega auction will take place where the team will not get to retain more players from the original squad thus that will open many options for RCB, to pick a player who can lead the side.
Dale Steyn believes KL Rahul can be an option for RCB
Former Proteas pacer Dale Steyn also opened up on RCB’s new captain and said that ABD will not the right choice. “I don’t think AB de Villiers is the right way to go. I think he is a phenomenal player. But he is at the end of his career. I think he is a great leader,” Steyn told ESPNCricinfo.
“If RCB are going to look at a long-term contender as captain, they should be looking within their own borders. The name I’ve got is an ex-Bangalore player. It’s KL Rahul. I just have a feeling he is going to return back to Bangalore in next year’s auction,” Steyn said.
