Virat Kohli, the star Indian batter has been synonymous with the Royal Challenges Bangalore right from the start of the IPL in 2008.
After the franchises announced their official retentions on October 1, Kohli was one of the three players who was retained by the franchise.
This made him the only player to continue with the same franchise right from the inception of the tournament. He was retained by RCB for Rs 21 crores.
Kohli expressed his excitement to create a fresh squad in the upcoming IPL mega auction. He wants to atleast win the tournament once before the next mega auction happens after three years. Kohli wants to give his all to make the loyal RCB fans happy.
“Very excited with the chance to create a squad at this auction, something that I’m really looking forward to as a franchise, as a team. And also just looking ahead in this cycleis . In the next three years, obviously the goal is to win the IPL title at least once. We’re going to give our best shot as always and I’ll try to make everyone proud, with the way we play out cricket,” Kohli said in a video shared by RCB shortly after the retentions were revealed.
Virat Kohli is set to be back as the RCB captain
Virat Kohli is likely to be back as RCB skipper for IPL 2025 (Image Credits: X)
RCB have not won the title even once since its start but enjoys a loyal and passionate fanbase throughout the country.
Kohli is one of the reasons for the increase in brand value and the popularity of the franchise. Reports state that the former Indian captain will be back as the captain of the franchise after stepping down, three seasons ago.
Faf du Plessis led the team in these three years from 2022 to 2024 and led the team to the playoffs twice in these three seasons.
However, with his age being 40 and Kohli’s interest to be back as the captain, they decided to not retain him.
RCB have retained only Kohli, Rajat Patidar and Mohammed Siraj out of the 25 players that they had. Kohli won the orange cap last year having scored 700 runs and will want to continue the same after having retired from the T20I format post the T20 World Cup 2024 win.
