In a shocking revelation, former England and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) all-rounder Moeen Ali has opened up on how batting stalwart Virat Kohli was almost sacked as franchise captain back in 2019. Notably, Moeen plied his trade with RCB between 2019 and 2020 before moving on to Chennai Super Kings (CSK), where he enjoyed the best spell of his IPL career.
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What had happened was after Virat led RCB to the final in 2016, he struggled to replicate his success as a leader in the subsequent seasons. The reigning IPL champions failed to reach playoffs for three consecutive years, finishing last in both 2017 and 2019 and managed only a sixth-place finish in 2018. While Kohli’s batting was a mainstay, his captaincy came under scrutiny.
Following the 2019 season, Moeen revealed that RCB thought of sacking Kohli as captain and wanted to replace him with former India wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel.
Patel looked in good form too in IPL 2019, amassing 373 runs at an average of 26.64 with a strike-rate of 139.18. However, why RCB did not let the move materialise is still a mystery to the ex-England star.
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While Virat Kohli served as RCB’s longest captain, his stint would have been cut short had RCB decided to go ahead with Parthiv as leader six years back.
Echoing on the same lines, Moeen Ali said in an invterview with Sportstak, “In the final year when Gary Kirsten was there-after the first year, I believe-Parthiv was in line to become captain. He had a brilliant cricketing brain. That was the talk at the time. I don’t know what happened or why it didn’t materialise, but I’m sure he was seriously considered for the role.”
Kohli had occasionally led the team since 2011 before officially becoming full-time captain in 2013, succeeding Daniel Vettori. He held the position until 2021, when he decided to step down citing workload.
On the other hand, Parthiv was a part of the RCB squad in 2020 but did not feature in any matches as the team preferred Aaron Finch and Devdutt Padikkal as their opening pair. RCB ended the season in fourth place and Patel announced his retirement that December, marking the end of his IPL career.
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