‘Kohli Should Be Removed From RCB Captaincy’ – Gambhir

After Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) were knocked out of IPL 2020 by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Friday, former India opener and IPL champion skipper Gautam Gambhir feels that Virat Kohli should step down from the RCB captaincy.

Upon being asked if Kohli be removed from the captaincy, Gambhir told 'ESPNCricinfo' – "100%, because the problem is about accountability. Eight years into the tournament (without a trophy), eight years is a long time."

"Tell me any other captain….forget about captain, tell me any other player who would have got eight years and wouldn't have won the title and would have still continued with it," he added.

To validate his comments, Gambhir said that Kohli's CSK and MI counterparts, MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma, have been long-standing captains of their teams because of their deliverance. Gambhir asserted that MI management would have removed Rohit Sharma from captaincy for a failure of 8 long years.

"Look at what happened to R Ashwin. Two years of captaincy [for the Kings XI Punjab], he couldn't deliver and he was removed. We talk about MS Dhoni, we talk about Rohit Sharma, we talk about Virat Kohli…not at all. Dhoni has won three [IPL] titles, Rohit Sharma has won four titles, and that's the reason they've captained for such a long time because they've delivered. I'm sure if Rohit Sharma wouldn't have delivered for eight years, he would have been removed as well. There should not be different yardsticks for different people," he continued.

Sunrisers Hyderabad quashed Virat Kohli-led RCB in Friday's IPL match, crashing them out of the Indian Premier League 2020. RCB could only manage 131/7 on the board after 20 overs. SRH chased down the target with ease and won the match by six wickets.