Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) is set to appoint a new captain for the IPL 2025 season, following their separation from Faf du Plessis. While the team has not yet made an official announcement, it is widely speculated by fans and experts that Virat Kohli will reclaim the captaincy for the upcoming season. Kohli, who stepped down from his leadership role in 2021, is expected to take charge once more in 2025. Despite this growing anticipation, the franchise has yet to confirm the decision publicly. In a recent conversation with Sports Tak, RCB's COO, Rajesh Menon, was questioned about Kohli’s possible return as captain but declined to provide a concrete answer.
“Currently we have not decided anything. We have multiple leaders in the team. 4-5 leaders are there. We have not deliberated what we need to do. We will deliberate, and we will come to a conclusion, said Menon. Kohli has captained RCB in 143 IPL matches from 2011 to 2023 and won 66 of them. On 70 occasions RCB suffered defeat under his leadership, and he led the franchise to the IPL final in the 2016 season, where he also scored 973 runs with the bat. When asked about RCB’s assembled squad for IPL 2025, Menon said, “We were very clear in terms of what kind of gaps we have and what all we need to fulfill and what is the Indian core that we require to build, and if you want to play in M Chinnaswamy (Stadium), what kind of bowling attack we require. And that is what we did."
“If you see Day 1, it was low-key for us. People thought we were not participating in the auction, but at the end of Day 2, everybody, right from fans to experts, felt saying what we have done is the best because we have covered all the gaps, and I think we have got one of the best teams." In the IPL 2025 mega auction, RCB made some interesting signings like Phil Salt, Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, Tim David, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jitesh Sharma, Devdutt Padikkal, Josh Hazlewood, Romario Shepherd, Nuwan Thushara, and Suyash Sharma, among others.
