Royal Challengers Bengaluru are kicking off another try for an IPL title later this week against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens. Even though they’ve had some big T20 stars over the years, they still haven’t won the trophy.
Even as the team has seen change, Virat Kohli has remained. He’s been with RCB since the IPL started in 2008 and has put up some amazing batting stats for them.
Despite his fame, Kohli is easy to talk to, at least according to Jitesh Sharma, a recent RCB pickup.
Yeah, Virat’s really approachable. It might be harder for people on the outside, but for us players, it’s different, Jitesh told CricXtasy. We ask him stuff about the game. I remember when PBKS played RCB in Mohali, I got around 42 runs, and then we fell apart. We lost by like 10-20 runs. I went up to him and introduced myself, and he said he knew who I was. I asked him a few questions, and he gave some awesome answers.
I asked him how to get more consistent in T20s, and he said that paying attention to the pitch and figuring out which shots to play would help. It’s helped me pick better shots. He knows a ton about the game, but I’ve got to be smart about taking it all in, he added.
After RCB decided to sign only three players before the huge IPL auction, there were whispers about Kohli maybe becoming captain again. But last month, the team said Rajat Patidar would be the new captain.
Jitesh hinted that Kohli wasn’t looking to be captain.
I only found out about Patidar when everyone else did. But after playing cricket for so long, you pick up on things. It was like Virat didn’t want to be captain. I’m not sure why, but I’ll let you know once I’ve retired and I’m in management. He hasn’t been the captain for the last two or three years, so it seemed like he probably wouldn’t do it this year either. Rajat Patidar was the best pick, Jitesh said.
Being a senior player himself, he never even considered becoming the RCB captain.
I never even thought about being captain. I would’ve picked Rajat too if I were in RCB management. He should be captain because he’s been with RCB for so many years. I’m new, so it’ll take me a bit to get used to how they do things. I might help Rajat out since we’re both from the central zone and have played together a lot. There’s that bond. Rajat will get all the help he needs, he said.
