The struggle for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) has been continuing to find a perfect captain who could lead the team to claim their maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) title.
RCB’s current skipper Faf du Plessis who shifted from Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to join the team in 2022 had many hopes of lifting the trophy. However, he has been unable to lead the team to victory in three consecutive seasons. Out of 40 matches, Faf secured just 19 wins, 21 losses, and 2 draw games with a winning percentage of 45.2.
With the South African right-handed batter entering his 40s, there are chances that he might retire soon from the rich-cash league. Let’s find out the chances of the top three contenders namely KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, and Suryakumar Yadav who could take the place of Faf du Plessis as RCB captain from the next season onwards.
1. KL Rahul:
Based on the latest reports, there are higher chances that KL Rahul could leave the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) franchise after his disappointing show as a captain and batsman in the IPL 2024.
Since LSG’s inaugural season in 2022, KL Rahul has led the team into two consecutive playoffs. But, in the previous season, the team under Rahul’s captaincy concluded in 7th position in the IPL 2024 points table. Especially, in the 57th match, KL Rahul and his men faced a humiliating defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 10 wickets as the Pat Cummins-led side comfortably chased the target of 167 runs in just 9.4 overs. After the conclusion of that match, the LSG captain was publicly insulted by the owner Sanjiv Goenka.
It is expected that the 32-year-old wicketkeeper-batter might return to his previous team RCB. Possibly, he might take up the dual role of wicketkeeping, which RCB requires after the retirement of Dinesh Karthik, and captaincy, where he could gain proper support from his teammate Virat Kohli.
2. Rohit Sharma:
IPL enthusiasts would feel overjoyed if their dream would come true watching Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma (the Ro-Ko combination) playing in the same team.
Ahead of the previous season, the Mumbai Indians (MI) franchise sacked their 5-time winning skipper Rohit Sharma from the captaincy role. As a result, the 36-year-old cricketer, who established himself as IPL’s most successful captain along with MS Dhoni, might prefer a betterment by finding his future with other teams.
Following his recent success in leading Team India to a historic T20 World Cup 2024 win, there are increased chances that different franchises would aim to secure the services of Rohit Sharma at a higher price.
Most importantly, Royal Challengers Bengaluru are eager to end their 17-year drought period to win their first IPL trophy. The franchise’s worry would vanish away if Rohit makes himself available in the forthcoming mega auction.
Interestingly, fans would once feel the explosiveness of the Ro-Ko’s opening combination after the T20 World Cup 2024. Overall RCB would benefit from acquiring Rohit Sharma, who is well-known for his brilliant leadership skills and explosive batting skills as an opener.
3. Suryakumar Yadav:
Possibly, Suryakumar Yadav could be another player who could leave the MI franchise in the next season to join RCB. He became India’s T20 captain following Rohit Sharma’s retirement from the shortest format of international cricket and proved his captaincy skills by leading the men-in-blue to a clean 3-0 victory in the recent three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka.
After the 2023 ODI World Cup, Suryakumar passed out with flying colors in his first assignment as India’s captain in T20 format. In the 5-match T20I home series against Australia, SKY and his men won the series with a scoreline of 3-2. Later, the men-in-blue toured South Africa for the multi-format series, and under SKY’s captaincy, the team leveled the 3-match T20I series with 1-1.
Over the past few months, Suryakumar has led India in 10 T20I matches and secured 7 wins, 2 losses, and a no-result game as well.
It is expected that RCB might reach out to Surya, who can lead their team to the winning title in IPL as well as strengthen the middle-order batting line-up. Also, he is ranked as one of the best batsmen in the T20 format, which is an added advantage for the team, particularly during the middle and death overs.
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Conclusion:
There have been doubts that Virat Kohli could once again take up the role of RCB’s full-time captain after Faf du Plessis’s retirement. Earlier, the ex-RCB skipper was seen leading the team in a few matches under Faf’s absence. So, it is understood that Kohli might be seen as a captain only during critical or unavoidable situations, but there are fewer chances for him to take up the role of full-time captain again.
Finally, the cricketing world is eager to see any of the above-mentioned players becoming the next RCB captain following Faf du Plessis’s retirement from IPL.
