IPL 2019: 3 reasons why Virat Kohli should step down as captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore

Different year, but almost the same outcome. Royal Challengers Bangalore have become somewhat of a parody team in the Indian Premier League. Despite having some of the best players in the world over the years, they have rarely been able to display a consistent level of dominance in the tournament.

Teams like Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad completely changed their outlooks after a few bad seasons and even Delhi Capitals have a new look to their side this time around.

And it was this very Delhi team that just beat the Challengers in another disappointing match for Virat Kohli and his men. Many are calling for Bangalore to follow the same path Kolkata did all those years ago - and that would mean that stripping Kohli of the captaincy.

Here are three reasons why that should happen…

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#1 Facts don’t lie

When RCB announced Kohli as their captain in 2014, they were hoping that he could lead them to glory as he had done with the Indian U19 team. However, 5 years later, all those hopes and dreams might have been quashed.

Leaving aside this edition of the IPL, RCB have only qualified for the playoffs twice under the captaincy of Kohli. In 2016, they made the final but it was more because of Kohli the batsman than Kohli the captain.

The Indian superstar made a mammoth 973 runs – which is the highest in a single season of the IPL in its history – and it was on the back of his performances that RCB reached the final (though Shane Watson and Yuzi Chahal were very good with the ball themselves).

In the other three seasons, they finished last, second last and third last in the league table, respectively – and that is pretty disappointing for a team that always had some of the best batsmen in the game.

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#2 Can’t seem to motivate his teammates

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The job of a captain is not only to set fields and make bowling changes, but also to motivate the players. Right now, with Kohli, that isn’t the case as the players he is leading are far below him in terms of playing level and he simply hasn't been able to get them playing a better brand of cricket.

Only AB de Villiers comes close to matching Kohli's level but even he, in crunch situations, has failed to deliver.

This was not always the case with Kohli though, as the Challengers looked really motivated for the first three seasons under his captaincy. While they have rung the changes in terms of personnel, there has always been one constant: Kohli the captain.

Kohli's mindset and mentality are perhaps the greatest in the world of cricket. The way he carries himself on the field – with zealous aggression – is perfect for a player like him.

However, not all of his teammates have the same mindset and this means they have to be dealt with differently – which might not be Kohli's forte.

For India, he has MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma to bank upon but there seem to be no proper leaders at RCB to help him out.

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#3 Breath of fresh air needed

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When Kolkata weren’t winning anything with Sourav Ganguly in the team, they not only took away the captaincy from him but also completely discarded him from the team.

The result? Two IPL titles for the team from Bengal.

While RCB don’t have to take as extreme a measure as completely dropping Kohli, they should allow him to step down from the role of captain. Indeed, Kohli is too big a player to be sacked from captaincy and he should himself consider stepping down in order for someone else to take the team in a new direction.

The unfortunate thing here is that RCB lack leaders in the dressing room. There is only one viable candidate to take over from Kohli, and that is AB de Villiers. He might just be the calm and composed captain RCB need to take them out of the rut they find themselves in and deliver the glory the fans have been waiting for.

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