It has been a nightmarish start to the season for Royal Challengers Bangalore. Four losses in as many matches including an innings where they were shot out for 70 and another where they conceded over 200 runs. Nothing has gone right for Virat Kohli, who has tried to look for explanations and struggled to contain his frustration.
Too many changes to the team are also not helping his cause, but what can a captain do when his players are not performing to their potential, but then he has to find a balance and then stick with it. There is a sense of restlessness in the camp and there is also a theory doing the rounds that captain Kohli should step down as his ideas are just not working for the franchise.
However, he has found support from former Indian skipper and now the mentor of Delhi Capitals – Sourav Ganguly. Also, Ganguly said that he still thinks RCB has a chance this season and advised Kohli to sit down and calm himself down so that he thinks clearly during matches.
Kohli, the batsman needs to step up
"He played well last season, I think it's a passing phase for him this season. The amount of runs he's (Virat) scored for India, I guess no player is close to that. He needs to take the backseat and think with a calm and composed mind with the team. There are still matches ahead. I won't rule out RCB as there is still time and I hope to see him take the team forward," Ganguly told IndiaTV.
Not only captaincy, Kohli the batsman has not been at his best this season. In the four matches this season, he has only managed to score 78 runs and now he really needs to step up and lead by example with the bat too.
After the previous match against Rajasthan, Kohli said that his side needs to identify moments in the game and then take up more responsibility.
"Today, we were more competitive. but we were 15-20 short with the bat. I thought 160 was competitive, but with the dew factor, 15 runs more would've been more challenging," said Kohli.
"The team hasn't gone off to a good start, and these things look really bad. But we have to keep believing that we can turn things around. We played well in Mumbai and tonight, but we need to improve. We need to take some confidence from tonight's game though," he added.
