Former India pacer Ajit Agarkar has said that Virat Kohli being made captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 was the "easiest solution" for the franchise. Previously after the IPL 2021, Kohli resigned as the captain of the team. He was retained ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction by the franchise.
What was said
“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," said Agarkar on Star Sports show ‘Game Plan: IPL auction special’. "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.
“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.”
On Lucknow, Ahmedabad
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) earlier announced that the Indian Premier League 2022 mega auction will take place on February 12 and 13 in Bengaluru. A total number of 590 cricket players are set to be auctioned during the two-day mega auction. The IPL 2022 is the 15th edition of the tournament.
From the 590 players registered for the auction, 228 are capped and 355 are uncapped while 7 belong to Associate Nations. The auctioned players comprise 370 Indian players and 220 overseas players. Australia contributes the most to the number of overseas players with 47 players, followed by West Indies with 34 and South Africa with 33.
With the addition of two new franchises, a total of 10 teams will compete in the tournament. They are the Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Capitals, Kolkata Knight Riders, Lucknow Super Giants, Mumbai Indians, Punjab Kings, Rajasthan Royals, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Ahmedabad Lions.
Speaking on whether IPL's newest teams would do well in the league, 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."
