Gautam Gambhir takes a dig at Virat Kohli's IPL captaincy, says he is lucky that RCB are still sticking with him
Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir who is famous for his sharp opinions in the cricket world has now raised questions on Virat Kohli's captaincy in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Recently, Gambhir said that Kohli should be grateful to his franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) that they didn't cut ties with him despite the poor results under his leadership.
On the matter of comparison with other IPL skippers, Gambhir believes that Kohli should not be compared to Chennai Super Kings' skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni or Mumbai Indians' leader Rohit Sharma as they both have won the league title thrice while the RCB captain's cabinet is still empty.
"Still a long way to go. I don't see him as a shrewd captain or a tactful captain as well. And he hasn't won the IPL. So ultimately a captain is only as good as his record till the time you don't win the IPL. There are people who have won the trophy three times... there is MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma. So I think he has a long way to go," Gambhir told Star Sports during a show.
"You cannot compare him to someone like MS Dhoni or Rohit Sharma at this stage because he has been part of RCB and captaining RCB for the last seven to eight years and he has been very lucky and should rather thank the franchise that they stuck to him because not many captains have got such a long run where they haven't won a tournament. He should be very thankful to the franchise as they have stuck with him," the former KKR skipper added.
Gambhir himself has led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to twin IPL trophies but when he re-joined Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals), he left the captaincy post their after massive failure in initial matches last year.
Kohli has been associated with the RCB camp from the start of his career but has never been able to lift the coveted trophy in 11 years. The Bangalore franchise has played three IPL finals where they were decimated by the opposition. First, it was the Deccan Chargers in 2009 when the IPL was played in South Africa, and the second instance was in 2011 when Mahendra Singh Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings defeated them in the summit clash. In 2016, Kohli had the golden opportunity to lift the Cup as he was in his best form during that season with four centuries in the league stage, but David Warner's Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) came out on top in the final to lift their own maiden trophy.
