Moeen Ali, a former England player, said that Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) thought of removing Virat Kohli as captain in 2019. They were considering Parthiv Patel as the new captain.
Moeen is not sure why it didn’t happen. That year RCB finished last, won only 5 out of 14 games and got 11 points. Patel performed reasonably well, scored 373 runs with an average of 26.64 and a strike rate of 139.18. He was with RCB in 2020 but didn’t play any games. The team chose Aaron Finch and Devdutt Padikkal as openers and finished 4th in the points table. Patel retired in December that year and never played in the IPL again.
Moeen told India Today, Yes, I think he was going to be captain. I’m pretty sure he was. When Gary Kirsten was there, Parthiv was likely to become captain after the first year. He had a great cricket mind. People were talking about it then. I don’t know why it didn’t happen, but I’m sure he was really being considered for the job.
Kohli eventually resigned as RCB’s captain in 2021. Faf du Plessis replaced him till 2024 but was not retained in 2025. There were rumors and reports that Kohli might take over again but RCB decided to go with Rajat Patidar from Madhya Pradesh.
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Kohli has retired from Tests and T20Is but still plays in the IPL and ODIs. Patel has become a commentator and coach. He recently took up roles in the Delhi Premier League (DPL) and also works with the Gujarat Titans in the IPL.
RCB and Kohli finally won their first IPL title in 2025, beating Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Kohli scored the most runs that season.
The victory was overshadowed by a stampede outside the Chinnaswamy Stadium, where 11 people died while celebrating the win.
