Former Indian cricketer and presently an analyst, Akash Chopra, on Friday explained why Virat Kohli hasn't been a successful captain in the Indian Premier League. Among the reasons that Aakash put forth was the dearth of support that Kohli has from his support staff at picking the right players at the auction, compared to Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni.
Speaking in his YouTube channel, Aakash said that RCB have failed to lift the IPL trophy because of the poor selection during the auction, and not just in a single auction, but over the years.
RCB are among the few teams to have yet to lift the IPL title despite reaching the final twice. Moreover, in the last three seasons witnessed RCB struggling to make a top-four finish.
"He [Kohli] is surely not a successful IPL captain. The team has not done well, it is actually a fact. And it is not one or two years, but many seasons," Chopra said.
"There are manifold reasons for that. First thing is that they don't pick the correct team. If you see their squad's strength, you can observe glaring mistakes. You can punch holes in them.
"There are no fast bowlers, who will bowl at the death, who will bat at No.5 and No.6. They have never addressed these problems.
"It is a top-heavy batting team, always a thin bowling lineup, the same Yuzi Chahal, just the same fast bowler, that's about it.
"If you don't pick the team properly, don't expect miracles from a captain."
Aakash also opined that Kohli needs the right kind of support during the auction in picking players.
"Second reason is that when the Indian team captain is the skipper of your franchise, you don't stretch his bandwidth beyond a point. This is with regards to once again the squad selection. The other people need to do a very good job at the time of squad selection."
"I am sure MS Dhoni would have given the CSK management a list of 3-4 players to be picked and left the rest to the support staff, when he was the Indian captain."
"It is almost impossible for you to sit in the auction and spoon feed the management to pick a particular team. You have to support him, I don't think Kohli has had that kind of support from his support staff," Chopra said.
RCB were however decent with their player selection for the 2020 season as they ropped in the likes of Aaron Finch, Dale Steyn and Chris Morris in the overseas department.
