RCB deserves to win IPL title, states Virat Kohli
India skipper Virat Kohli, who captains the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) side in the IPL, believes his franchise, that has finished as runners-up thrice, ‘deserves’ to win an IPL title. The Kohli-led RCB side has finished bottom in two of the last three editions of the tournament.
One of the biggest mysteries of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been the inability of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) side to lift the trophy. Despite time and again boasting one of the strongest sides in the tournament, at one point even possessing Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle and Mitchell Starc all in the same side, the franchise has failed to meet expectations and, more often than not, has ended up leaving a bitter taste in the mouth of its fans.
Inevitably, the (under)performance of RCB in the IPL popped up as one of the topics of discussion in Kohli’s live chat on instagram with Kevin Pietersen, and the Indian skipper gave his thoughts on the same. The 31-year-old admitted that the fuss around RCB was always going to be huge due to the sheer amount of big names they possess and went on to state that semi-final and final appearances are irrelevant in the event of the team failing to win the title. Kohli further stated that RCB’s ultimate goal is to lift the IPL title and went on to say that his franchise deserves to win the trophy.
"When you have big players, obviously there is going to be much more attention on the team. Even with this team, we have me, AB (de Villiers) and Dale (Steyn) have also played recently. All these big players have played for the RCB. So, we are always going to be more in focus,” Kohli told Pietersen on Instagram Live.
"We have reached three finals; we have not won one of them. We have also reached three semi-finals but those things are irrelevant till the time you do not win the title. That is one of our goals and we actually deserve to win a title, to be honest."
After reaching the final in 2016, RCB staggeringly finished bottom in two of the last three editions of the IPL, failing to reach the play-offs on all three occasions.