Mo Bobat, the Director of Cricket for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), addressed speculation surrounding Virat Kohli’s potential return to captaincy for IPL 2025 shortly after the franchise announced their retention decisions. Following the release of Faf du Plessis, who had captained the team for the past three seasons, rumors intensified about Kohli possibly resuming his leadership role.
Kohli had previously stepped down as RCB’s captain in 2021 after leading the team for nine seasons, making him the third-longest-serving captain in IPL history with 143 matches, behind MS Dhoni (226) and Rohit Sharma (158).
While RCB has confirmed Kohli’s re-signing for INR 21 crore, Bobat chose not to clarify the captaincy situation just yet. He indicated that the franchise is exploring various leadership options ahead of the mega auction next month.
“I’m sorry to disappoint everyone listening, but we have not yet made any decisions regarding captaincy of Kohli returning as skipper,” Bobat stated. “We remain open to options. The only definitive choice was not to retain Faf, who did a fantastic job in the last couple of years. We’ll keep an open mind as we head into the auction,” he added during his interview with JioCinema.