Virat Kohli has become the first retention choice for Royal Challengers Bengaluru ahead of the upcoming IPL 2025 mega auction. The franchise retained the star Indian player for INR 21 crore and announced their decision before the October 31 deadline.
A few days ago there were reports that Virat Kohli has once again taken up the responsibility of captaining RCB. After his retention was officially completed and Faf du Plessis was not retained, RCB’s Director of Cricket Mo Bobat finally spoke on the topic of captaincy.
Mo Bobat talks about Virat Kohli’s chances to captain RCB
Speaking on Jio Cinema, Mo Bobat did not guarantee Virat Kohli’s captaincy but did not rule it out either. He claimed that RCB is open to various options and will decide on the captaincy only after the IPL 2025 auction.
“I’m sorry to disappoint anyone listening. We haven’t made any decisions about the captaincy or that (Kohli’s return as captain) yet. We are open to options,” said Mo Bobat.
“The only obvious decision we made was not to keep Faf (du Plessis). He did very well last year and the year before that. So from our point of view we will be very open-minded going into the auction,” Mo Bobat added.
Faf du Plessis has been the captain of RCB for the last three seasons. Under his captaincy, the team reached the playoffs twice, in 2022 and 2024. However, despite his decent performances with the bat, Faf was never a long-term captaincy option.
Du Plessis is currently 40 years old and RCB are looking for a captain who can build a team and serve for a long time. Virat Kohli has led the franchise before. Appointed full-time RCB captain in 2013 but relinquished captaincy after IPL 2021.
Players retained by RCB
Meanwhile, unlike other teams, Royal Challengers Bengaluru retained only three players. Virat Kohli was the highest paid among the list of retained players with INR 21 crore. Two other players Rajat Patidar and Yash Dayal were retained for INR 11 crore and INR 5 crore respectively.
Andy Flower talks about keeping Wet Based
RCB head coach Andy Flower was satisfied with the way things turned out. He expressed his delight at retaining left-arm seamer Yash Dayal and claimed that his skills would be useful for RCB’s bowling attack.
“We are delighted to retain Yash Dayal, an extraordinary talent whose career is on an upward trajectory. His unique left-arm ability to swing the ball both ways adds a valuable dimension to our bowling attack that is becoming increasingly rare in the auction landscape,” said Flower.
While Yash Dayal was retained, it was a surprise that Mohammed Siraj was not considered by the franchise. RCB are left with INR 83 crores in the auction and will look to sign some big players to their team.
