RCB issues a statement on the team's leadership for IPL 2019

They’ve done most things, picked up some of the highest paid players, unearthed raw talent, backed youngsters who went on to not just prove them right but lead the roost but it hasn’t transpired into results for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Well ahead of the 12th season of the IPL they made quite a few changes in the coaching staff and soon enough the rumour mills churned out another news that South African cricketer AB de Villiers will succeed Virat Kohli as the captain of the franchise.

After 11 seasons RCB continues to remain that one franchise which has failed to get its hands on the trophy. A lot of experts highlighted that it was the poor decision-making by the team management and that was why they couldn’t get the expected results from a team full of star players. Thus they appointed Gary Kirsten as the new head coach of the franchise and Ashish Nehra as the bowling coach. RCB sacked former fielding coach Trent Woodhill and bowling coach Andrew McDonald 6 months ahead of the next edition.

IPL 2019 will face a huge crisis since it closely precedes the World Cup 2019. Most international boards will not want their key players to play 50 odd days of non-stop T20 cricket right ahead of the mega event. Virat, of course, is the biggest name not just for India but in the entire fraternity right now. It is quite certain that he will either play one half of it or give the IPL a miss completely based on how things shape up.

Considering the fact that de Villiers has already retired from international cricket it made complete sense. However, the Royal Challengers franchise has issued a statement claiming that all the media reports are baseless and Kohli will be at the helm in the next season as well.

RCB’s statement

“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.

It will be interesting to see how things pan out in the meantime and will Kohli at all participate in the tournament.

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