I would have liked to have Virat Kohli relax his captaincy in IPL, says Danny Morrison

I would have liked to have Virat Kohli relax his captaincy in IPL, says Danny Morrison

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BCCI

Danny Morrison is of the belief that Virat Kohli should have rested as a captain for Royal Challengers Bangalore in this Indian Premier League and should have just played as a batsman. RCB started with six consecutive losses and eventually finished last despite performing better in the second half.

The Indian Premier League final was scheduled on May 12, just about two weeks before Indiaā€™s first World Cup warm-up encounter on May 25. Royal Challengers Bangalore had played their last league match on May 4 and did not feature in the playoffs as they finished at the bottom of the table. However, cricketer turned commentator Danny Morrison feels that Royal Challengers Bangalore and India skipper Virat Kohli should have skipped captaincy for this season of the cash-rich league as to reduce the burden on him.

"I would have liked to have Virat relax his captaincy in IPL, just focus on his batting, have a breather, have some downtime. When you are captaining everything, it has to impact you. I think am not alone and other former players who have seen the IPL closely, am saying what some colleagues of mine have said that Virat should have rested in IPL," he said, reported India Today.

Sachin Tendulkar had played a record 200 Tests and 463 ODIs and had smashed 51 and 49 centuries respectively in each of the formats. His records seemed to be unbreakable but Kohli is in touching distance of them with 25 hundreds in 77 games in the longest format and 41 hundreds in 227 ODIs. The former New Zealand cricketer feels that Kohli needs to cut down a few corners in order to survive longer.

"By his own admission Virat wants to break some of Tendulkar's records and he has the kind of focus and drive one should have. He is all about that not only as a cricketer but as a person. And I know in terms of stardom, Virat is powerful. Turn every corner and there is Virat, on every billboard, TV commercial but you want to last, you want to survive," explained the 53-year-old.

"There is a lot of importance being played on Virat the leader of India in the World Cup in England, the home of cricket. Lot of spotlight on him as has been on any Indian captain of the 21st century.ā€

Lastly, Morrison also reckoned that having former skipper MS Dhoni by his side will greatly help Kohli to get some pressure off him. He also remarked that a good rapport with the head coach Ravi Shastri will benefit the 30-year-old.

ā€œHaving someone like MS Dhoni there as his predecessor. I love the way they can chat and react. They obviously have a great rapport also with coach Ravi Shastri in the picture. I think he has a great ally in MS Dhoni because we know what he used to produce as a captain in tough situations. That's why I think India is tough to beat," signed off the former New Zealand bowler.

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