IPL 2022 | Virat Kohli taking over captaincy again will be the easiest solution for RCB, says Ajit Agarkar
Ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction, former India pacer Ajit Agarkar has stated that Virat Kohli taking over as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper will help the franchise from spending a huge amount on captaincy candidate. Kohli relinquished his RCB captaincy after the conclusion of IPL 2021.
The 15th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be an exciting season with 10 teams in contention for the coveted trophy. Ahead of the upcoming season of the IPL, a mega auction is scheduled on February 12 and 13 in Bengaluru. All the 10 franchises have submitted their final list of retentions ahead of IPL 2022 and will be looking forward to building strong teams through their picks in the mega auction.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have retained Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell and Mohammed Siraj ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction. Kohli had stepped down from the leadership role of RCB after the conclusion of the IPL 2021, which will force the team to look for a new captain while heading to the upcoming season of the cash-rich league.
Meanwhile, former India pacer Ajit Agarkar stated that Virat Kohli taking over the leadership role again will be the easiest solution for RCB, as it will help the franchise from spending a huge amount on a captaincy candidate.
"If Virat Kohli can take over the captaincy and if he is happy to do it and if he has the energy to do it, I think that will be the easiest solution for them. At the end of the day, we have seen RCB over the years; they haven't invested enough money in making a proper team of 12, 13 or 14 players with enough depth," said Agarkar on Star Sports.
"It has always been dependent on the top three, not enough middle-order players; and if you don't have the money, you can't do that again.So if you break the bank for one player, doesn't matter how good he is, (he) will win you games but will never win you competitions," the former India bowler added.
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and the Ahmedabad franchise will begin their IPL journey from the 15th edition of the lucrative league. LSG have roped in KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis and Ravi Bishnoi, while the Ahmedabad team purchased Hardik Pandya, Rashid Khan and Shubman Gill ahead of the mega auction. Agarkar reckoned that the new two franchises were able to rope in players like Hardik and Rahul, but it was not the case when two teams had come earlier in the cash-rich league.
"Yes, I think so. I think to a large extent you have got some of the big names, like Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul, those sorts of names that you have been able to retain, which was not the case before when the two new teams had come earlier, which was a lot harder on those new teams.
"So I am not sure if it's even-stevens at the moment. It's a good thing, but you still have to build now for the future for more teams. Older teams are able to only retain their four players, which is never easy, say for the likes of Mumbai Indians or some of the stronger teams because they have more than four players that they would have wanted to retain.
"But yes, it is going to be about who gets the best Indians and who makes the use of that in the auction and eventually build your team around it," he added.