IPL 2020: 'Would RCB have won the tournament if anyone other than Virat Kohli was their captain?'

Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has hit out at critics asking for Virat Kohli to be removed as the captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), observing that a captain is as good as his team.

He made this observation while reviewing the Bangalore-based side's performance in IPL 2020, in a video shared on his Facebook page.

Aakash Chopra started by pointing out that RCB had a decent run in IPL 2020, where they reached the playoffs for the first time since their run to the final in the 2016 edition of the league before falling to Sunrisers Hyderabad.

"RCB reached the last 4. They may not have played great to reach there but they reached at least. They may have lost to SRH there but their overall performance was alright," said Chopra.

The reputed commentator talked about the calls in certain quarters for Virat Kohli to be relieved of captaincy duties for RCB as well as for the Indian team because he did not have a great run as a skipper in the IPL.

"There is a question that because Kohli has been the captain of RCB for 8 years, and the team is not able to win, then he should be removed and that he should also be removed as the Indian T20 captain," observed Chopra.

The former KKR player posed a question to Virat Kohli's critics, asking them if RCB would have done any better if any other player had been at the helm of affairs instead of Kohli.

"I have a small question to all critics. I am not a fan of Kohli's captaincy, but I want to put forth my views in an impartial manner that would RCB have won the tournament if anyone other than Kohli was their captain, would this team have gone further ahead," wondered the former player.

Aakash Chopra says that Virat Kohli has been a decent captain

Virat Kohli has enjoyed reasonable success as the Indian captain.

Aakash Chopra also wondered if RCB had any other captaincy candidate apart from Virat Kohli and whether that player would have been able to produce better results for the franchise than Kohli.

"If it is such a good team and is falling behind because of the captain, then you should definitely remove him, there is no problem with that. But when you talk about removing him, you should definitely tell that this is the other captaincy candidate we have, and if we give the same team to someone else, then this team will go further," said Chopra.

While acknowledging that captaincy does have an impact, the former Test opener observed that Virat Kohli cannot be singularly blamed for RCB's indifferent performances.

"Look at the team's state at least. I understand that the captain makes a big difference to the team but saying that the team has been doing bad because of him (Kohli) is wrong," observed Chopra.

The former India opener added that Virat Kohli should be given credit for taking RCB to the playoffs in IPL 2020 by the same analogy, but that would also be incorrect.

"If you are saying that, then also say that they reached the last four because of him, which is also wrong because it is not the case that they qualified because of Kohli's captaincy this time, and they wouldn't have if he was not the captain," said Chopra.

The 43-year old highlighted that Virat Kohli is not as bad a captain as he is made out to be. In this regard, Chopra said:

"In my opinion, the team will play as good as it is. The captaincy input is there' good captains do a good job, but Kohli is not as bad a captain as people have made him out to be."

Aakash Chopra concluded by pointing out that the Indian team would not have enjoyed the success it has if Virat Kohli had been a poor captain.

"If he had been that bad, his numbers for the Indian team would have been bad as well."

Although the Royal Challengers Bangalore have not yet managed to win the IPL till date, it would be wrong to blame Virat Kohli's captaincy for that.

It is actually the poor balance of the squad that has proved to be the franchise's Achilles heel, with their lack of depth in the batting department being a main concern in IPL 2020.