Why RCB failed to win IPL under the captaincy of Virat Kohli?

Virat Kohli’s quest for the 2021 season’s IPL trophy was ended by Kolkata Knight Riders, as they were eliminated in the playoffs.

Virat Kohli has been often criticized for not leading RCB to the IPL trophy as a captain. This season he played his last IPL as an RCB captain, which could have ended on a positive note, however, Kolkata Knight Riders spoiled the party and eliminated RCB in the playoff. 

Meaning Kohli will now play as a player for the Royal Challenger Bangalore and will not be the captain of the team, ending his captaincy reign with 140 matches in nine seasons with a bare trophy cabinet. 

However, not only IPL he will also step down as India’s T20 captain after the T20 World Cup, as his prime reason being workload management and how the master batter wants to focus on his batting more. 

Virat Kohli: IPL Career Stats with RCB 

No other player has dominated the IPL as Virat Kohli for RCB, having scored the most runs in IPL history. He has also scored the most runs in a single edition of IPL, in 2016 he scored 973 runs in 16 games, a record which is yet to be broken. 

However, the only player who has ever come close to the Indian skipper is David Warner, scoring 848 runs in 17 matches. 

This is the second time Virat Kohli has come close to winning the IPL trophy with RCB, the last time they did was in 2016 as they lost the final. Since then, RCB has struggled to finish at the top, and team has gone steadily downhill after that. 

Many fans have questioned his captaincy, and Kohli's underwhelming performance in the crunch games as well. 

We take a look at how RCB has fared under the captaincy of Virat Kohli  

Reasons why Royal Challenger Bangalore have not won an IPL

RCB is one of the biggest franchises in IPL, brimmed with star players who can lead the team to glory, but having only star players attain success for the team? 

However, the team also needs cohesion and a captain to create a calm atmosphere during important matches, still, the team has earned them the tag of “underachievers” as they hold the record of both the highest and the lowest totals in the IPL– 263 and 49 respectively. 

The team has never won an IPL trophy despite playing three finals between 2009 and 2016. RCB has two of the greatest batsmen of the current generation, Virat Kohli and Ab de Villiers who instill fear in the opposition’s mind. However, that’s not enough? A batsman can score as many runs as you want, but the team lacks a balance in their squad.

The team is decided during the auction and if you are bidding for the wrong players then it will definitely not help the team win any titles. 

RCB has always had high-profile players, but the team has always been short on lower-order and pace bowlers, in T20 matches, one of the most important bowlers are death bowlers. Where RCB has failed to get any in these years, however, they had Mitchell Starc in 2016, since then RCB never purchased pace bowlers. 

During an auction, RCB has not gone for big for players who are capable of performing under pressure. 

The captain should list the player he wants at his disposal, but the rest of the works depends on the management as to what they do on the day. The misselection of the squad can be led to the team failing to win the title.