Royal Challengers Bangalore are hunting for new captain for IPL 2025 season. Rohit Sharma could be the candidate to lead Virat Kohli’s side next year, feel a former India cricketer.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have already come out with the rules regarding the retention of players ahead of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction. With the retention deadline for the teams being October 31, the speculation is already rife whether former India T20 skipper Rohit Sharma will be moving away from Mumbai Indians.
Rohit has already been replaced as MI skipper by Hardik Pandya ahead of IPL 2024 – a season in which the six-time IPL champions finished in 10th place. Now ahead of the mega auctions, former India cricketer Mohammed Kaif is urging Rohit to leave MI and head to a franchise where he can lead the team for the remaining of his IPL career.
One of those teams is Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) with former India captain Virat Kohli in their ranks. RCB, who made the IPL 2024 playoffs, are unlikely to retain their current skipper Faf du Plessis of South Africa and are possibly looking for change of guard.
“Rohit Sharma should only play as a captain. He is such a big player and recently led India to T20 World Cup win. He will surely have offers. I know because people must have been ringing him up with offers. But I feel he should only take up the captaincy role in whichever franchise he goes. And Rohit Sharma should leave. He has just 2-3 years left in his IPL career, and those years should be spent as a captain because of what he can do on the field; very few people have that ability,” Kaif was quoted as saying by Star Sports network.
Mohmmad Kaif:- “I’m telling you with a guarantee that Rohit Sharma turns a player from an 18 to a 20.He understands tactical moves very well. If RCB gets a chance, they should definitely take Rohit Sharma as captain.” pic.twitter.com/eA1cYK0bgm
— ` (@cutxpull45) September 29, 2024
In his IPL career till date, Rohit Sharma has scored 6,628 runs in 257 matches with 2 hundreds and 43 fifties to his name. In IPL 2024, Rohit notched up 417 runs in 14 matches with 1 hundred and 1 fifty.
Team India Test and ODI skipper retired from T20 international cricket after leading India to the T20 World Cup 2024 title earlier this year. Apart from RCB, Lucknow Super Giants and Punjab Kings are two likely destinations for Rohit while Sunrisers Hyderabad might also be looking for a new captain.
But Kaif urged RCB to convince Rohit Sharma to join them for IPL 2025 season making it a dream reunion for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. “RCB should take that chance, 100 per cent, by hook or by crook, they must convince him to take up captaincy. Rohit knows very well how to form an XI so RCB will have the advantage if he is picked and probably their trophy drought could also end,” Kaif felt.
There is also speculation that RCB may try to convince Kohli to lead the side once again if they fail to find a suitable replacement for Du Plessis as skipper.