“Best thing I ever did for RCB is appoint Virat Kohli as captain and invest in bowlers and all rounders at auction,” is how Vijay Mallya had welcomed the appointment of Virat Kohli when the batting maestro became the full-time captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) franchise in 2013. Kohli, who was en route to becoming one of the greatest batters in the history of the sport, had replaced legendary spinner Daniel Vettori as the new captain of the Bangalore-based franchise at the time. 

After breaking a plethora of records and capping off bitter-sweet seasons with RCB as captain, Kohli has bid farewell to the leadership role at Bangalore. The 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was Kohli’s final season as the leader of the Bangalore-based franchise. Though Kohli has stepped down as RCB captain, the talismanic batter is still Bangalore’s driving force in domestic cricket’s biggest extravaganza – the IPL. 

On Tuesday, Kohli became RCB’s first pick for the new season and the former captain even opted to take a pay cut to help the Bangalore franchise strengthen their squad before the mega auction. RCB also retained star all-rounder Glenn Maxwell and speed merchant Mohammed Siraj before the November 30 deadline. Speaking to ESPNcricinfo about RCB’s decision to retain three key campaigners on the retention day, ex-Bangalore icon Vettori branded Maxwell as the successor of Kohli at the franchise.  

After a forgetful stint with Punjab Kings (PBKS), Maxwell joined forces with Kohli’s RCB for the 14th edition of the cash-rich league. ‘Big Show’ Maxwell fired RCB to the playoffs and the Aussie all-rounder was named as the franchise’s second most expensive pick on retention day. “I do believe Maxwell will be named captain. It could be [for] just one season, to see how it goes but it’s a pretty good stop-gap measure as they build to the future,” Vettori added.