A file image of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers
Amidst rumours over Virat Kohli's tenure as Royal Challengers Bangalore captain, the Indian Premier League franchise has cleared the air and has rubbished all reports, stating that the Indian cricket captain will be in charge in the 2019 season.
According to reports, AB de Villiers was to be appointed as the new captain of RCB.
"We can clarify on record that the news is incorrect and Virat Kohli is very much the captain of RCB for the next season as well," a team spokesperson told India Today.
Kohli has been with the IPL franchise since it's inception in 2008 and was made captain in 2013.
The Team India captain has been a prolific run scorer for RCB in the domestic T20 league and is now just 52 runs shy of scoring 5,000 runs.
Earlier, former Team India coach Gary Kirsten was appointed as the new RCB head coach, replacing Daniel Vettori. There was a shuffle in the coaching department, which saw fielding coach Trent Woodhill and bowling coach Andrew McDonald being booted out.
Retired Indian pacer Ashish Nehra, who is the current bowling coach will be a part of the coaching leadership along with Kirsten.
Royal Challengers Bangalore are one of the three teams (Delhi Daredevils & Kings XI Punjab) who have not won the Indian Premier League yet. The Bangalore based franchise reached the 2009, 2011 and 2016 finals, but failed.
In the previous season (2018) RCB failed to make the qualifiers despite bringing in a new lot in the auctions.
For now, the Team India captain will be heading RCB in the 2019 season.
