Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar has said Virat Kohli has given a high-profile name to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and one should not pay much attention to Kohli not winning an Indian Premier League (IPL) title.
Virat Kohli's journey as skipper in the IPL came to an end on Monday as RCB suffered a four-wicket loss against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Eliminator. Sunil Narine's four-wicket haul and 26-run knock helped KKR defeat RCB.
"He has given RCB that kind of profile, that brand recognition that very (few) cricketers have given to their franchise. Everybody wants to finish on a high. But these things never always happen according to your or fans' wishes. Look at what happened to Sir Don Bradman. Just four runs were needed in his last innings and he gets out for a zero," Gavaskar said on commentary at the end of the game between KKR and RCB.
"Sachin Tendulkar would have wanted to finish with a hundred, he got 79 (actually 74) in Mumbai, his 200th Test match. 79 is not bad but for somebody who is used to making hundreds would have wanted to get those extra 21 runs and then end his Test career there," he added.
Further talking about Kohli, Gavaskar said: "The script is not always written that way. Not everybody has this great fortune of going on a high. But can one ever dispute what he has done for RCB? He has done magnificently. There was one year when he got 973 runs, 27 runs short of 1000 runs. Nobody has done it, nobody looks like ever getting to 1000 runs."
When the UAE leg of the IPL 2021 resumed, Kohli went on to announce that he would step down as the skipper of the franchise after the ongoing edition. Kohli had become the regular captain at Royal Challengers in 2013 and he has been a part of the franchise as a player since the inception of the IPL in 2008.
Under Virat Kohli, RCB had reached the finals of IPL in 2016 and it was in the same edition that Kohli registered the most number of runs by a batter in a single season.
However, after that RCB found the going tough and the side failed to reach the playoffs in three consecutive years and the jinx was finally broken in 2020. In the 140 matches he captained in IPL, Kohli won 66 and lost 70 while four were no results.
Kohli will also step down as Team India's T20I captain after the upcoming T20 World Cup.
( With inputs from ANI )
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