"Glenn Maxwell will be the likely heir to Virat Kohli" - Daniel Vettori picks his RCB captain for IPL 2022

Daniel Vettori firmly believes Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell will be named captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for IPL 2022. The former New Zealand spinner remarked that Maxwell replacing Virat Kohli in the job for at least one season would be a "pretty good stop-gap measure" to help the RCB rebuild.

Virat Kohli announced his decision to relinquish the RCB's captaincy ahead of the UAE leg of IPL 2021, citing a heavy workload. Ahead of the mega auction for IPL 2022, the franchise have retained Kohli, Glenn Maxwell and Mohammed Siraj. Unless RCB gets a new captain at the auction, Maxwell looks likely to lead the side.

Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Daniel Vettori, who led RCB between 2011-12, pointed to Glenn Maxwell's prior leadership experience in the Big Bash League (BBL) with the Melbourne Stars. He also argued that most franchises have played it safe by retaining at least one captaincy probable and the Aussie could play that role for the RCB. Daniel Vettori said:

"Look, I think Maxwell will be the likely heir to Kohli. He obviously produced [results] in this last year and he was an exceptional player for them. He has the experience of captaining the Melbourne Stars... We talked about most teams wanting to find a captain in their retained players... It has happened too often that teams know they've got a captain, they know they can lock that away and they don't have to find one in the auction which can cloud your thinking at times."

Vettori added:

"I do believe Maxwell will be named captain. It could be [for] just one season, to see how it goes but it's a pretty good stop-gap measure as they build to the future."

Glenn Maxwell was RCB's highest run-getter in IPL 2021, making him a sure-starter in the team's playing XI for at least the next season.

He also has a brilliant captaincy record in the BBL, having won 34 of the 62 games for the Stars. His win percentage of 57.14 is the fourth-best in the competition among players who have led for a minimum of 25 games.

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"RCB have got 3 very good players" - Daniel Vettori

Daniel Vettori further said that despite not being able to retain some key players, the RCB have got a good core. He feels the likes of Yuzvendra Chahal, Harshal Patel and Devdutt Padikkal would have wanted to try their luck in the mega-auction and thus couldn't be retained.

The former cricketer added:

"Obviously, you think Chahal would have stayed or RCB would have wanted him but the thing we have to understand is that players want to go to the mega auction, be available to the two new teams... RCB have got three very good players. They've got two of the top T20 batsmen in world cricket."

Vettori concluded by saying:

"Maxwell coming off a great year, potentially being captain of RCB and then one of the best Indian domestic bowlers. It's a very good three. I am sure they would have loved to have Chahal there, or Harshal Patel or Devdutt Padikkal but those 3 players probably wanted to try their hand at the auction."

The schedule for the IPL 2022 mega auction is yet to be confirmed, but it's likely to be held in the last week of December or in January next year.