"If Virat Kohli Can Take Over...": Ajit Agarkar On "Easiest Solution" For Royal Challengers Bangalore
IPL 2022: Virat Kohli was retained by RCB as a player and Ajit Agarkar feels it might just be the best thing for RCB if he continues as the leader.
Former India pacer Ajit Agarkar said if Virat Kohli is willing to take up the captaincy again then it could be the "easiest solution" for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) ahead of IPL 2022. Kohli had decided to quit as RCB's captain weeks after announcing that the 2021 World Cup would be his last as India's captain in the shortest format of the game. In December last year, the prolific right-hander was replaced by Rohit Sharma as India's white-ball skipper and a month later, Kohli decided to quit as Test captain following a 1-2 defeat to South Africa. Kohli, however, was retained by RCB as a player and Agarkar feels it might just be the best thing for RCB if he continues as the leader.
"If Virat Kohli can take over the captaincy and if he is happy to do it and if he has the energy to do it, I think that will be the easiest solution for them. At the end of the day, we have seen RCB over the years they haven't invested enough money in making a proper team of 12, 13 or 14 players with enough depth," said Agarkar on Star Sports show 'Game Plan: IPL auction special'.
Agarkar said it is not advisable to pay too much for one player as it is very difficult for any player to win a tournament like IPL single-handedly.
"It's always been dependent on the top three, not enough middle order players and if you don't have the money, you can't do that again.
"So, if you break the bank for one player, doesn't matter how good he is - will win you games but will never win you competitions," he added.
From this year, the IPL will be a 10 team affair as two new teams - Lucknow and Ahmedabad - have joined the already existing eight franchises.
Speaking on whether it is a level playing field for the two new teams (Lucknow and Ahmedabad) coming into the auction, Agarkar said, "Yes, I think so- I think to a large extent you have got some of the big names like say, Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul those sorts of names that you have been able to retain, which was not the case before when the two new teams had come earlier which was a lot harder on those new teams."
"So, I am not sure if it's even-stevens at the moment. It's a good thing but you still have to build now for the future for more teams, older teams are able to only retain their four players which is never easy to say for the likes of Mumbai Indians or some of the stronger teams because they have more than four players that they would have wanted to retain."
"But yes, it is going to be about who gets the best Indians and who makes the use of that in the auction and eventually build your team around it," he added.
Virat Kohli
Royal Challengers Bangalore