Aakash Chopra reveals why Virat Kohli has never been a successful IPL skipper

Aakash Chopra has revealed why Virat Kohli has not been a successful captain in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Virat has been captaining the Royal Challengers Bangalore since the 2013 edition and had led them to the finals in 2016. However, RCB had run out of steam in the tournament decider against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Under his captaincy, RCB have finished with the 'wooden spoon' award (at the bottom of the league table) on most of the occasions. Nonetheless, Kohli has been associated with the Bengaluru franchise since the inception of the cash-rich tournament in 2008. 

'Don't expect miracles': Aakash Chopra

"He (Virat Kohli) is surely not a successful IPL captain. The team has not done well, it is actually a fact. And it is not one or two years, but many seasons. There are manifold reasons for that. First thing is that they don’t pick the correct team. If you see their squad’s strength, you can observe glaring mistakes. You can punch holes in them,” said Chopra while interacting on his official Youtube channel 'Aakash Vani'. 

“There are no fast bowlers, who will bowl at the death, who will bat at No.5 and No.6. They have never addressed these problems. It is a top-heavy batting team, always a thin bowling lineup, the same Yuzi Chahal, just the same fast bowler, that’s about it. If you don’t pick the team properly, don’t expect miracles from a captain,” the former Indian Test opener added.

“Second reason is that when the Indian team captain is the skipper of your franchise, you don’t stretch his bandwidth beyond a point. This is with regards to once again the squad selection. The other people need to do a very good job at the time of squad selection.”

“I am sure MS Dhoni would have given the CSK management a list of 3-4 players to be picked and left the rest to the support staff, when he was the Indian captain,” the cricketer-turned-commentator/analyst further added.

“It is almost impossible for you to sit in the auction and spoon feed the management to pick a particular team. You have to support him, I don’t think Kohli has had that kind of support from his support staff,” the ex-Test specialist said.

Virat Kohli in IPL 2020

The batting megastar was all set to represent the three-time finalists in IPL 2020 that was originally scheduled to get underway on March 29 but has been suspended indefinitely as of now due to the global pandemic. RCB will be hoping to get fourth time lucky and win their maiden IPL crown after faltering at the final hurdle during 2009, 2011, and, 2016 editions of the tournament. 

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