"I don't see him as a shrewd captain" - When Gautam Gambhir made a bold statement on Virat Kohli's leadership in the IPL
Team India's superstar batter Virat Kohli also holds the record for being India's most successful Test captain. He led the country in 68 matches in the red-ball format out of which India won 40 and lost 17, while 11 games ended in a draw. In ODIs, he led India in 95 games, winning 65 of them. Further, Kohli captained the Men in Blue in 50 T20Is, registering 30 wins.
Apart from leading the country in international cricket, the right-handed batter has also led his Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). He became the regular captain of RCB in 2013 and stepped down after the 2021 season. Although he enjoyed tremendous success as a batter, Bengaluru failed to win the IPL during his tenure.
Sharing his thoughts on Kohli's captaincy in the IPL back in 2019, Team India's current head coach Gautam Gambhir opined that the batter did not possess great skills as a leader. Gambhir wrote in his column for The Times of India.
"While Virat Kohli the batsman is an absolute master, Virat Kohli the captain is an apprentice. He has loads to learn. Rather than blaming the bowlers, he should take the blame on himself."
He also shared his opinion on Kohli's leadership in the IPL during a discussion on Star Sports and again refused to term the batting genius as a smart captain. On the contrary, he stated:
"I don't see him as a shrewd captain. I don't see him as a tactful captain. And he hasn't won the IPL. So ultimately, a captain is only as good as his record. He has been captaining RCB for the last seven to eight years and he has been very lucky and should be thanking the franchise that they stuck with him because not many captains have got such a long rope where they haven't won a tournament."
Under Kohli's leadership, Royal Challengers Bengaluru reached the final in the 2016 IPL season. However, they had to be content with the runners-up crown as Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) beat them by eight runs in a high-scoring final at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
Virat Kohli's record as captain in the IPL
Kohli led RCB in 143 matches in the IPL out of which the franchise won 66 and lost 70. Also, three matches ended in a tie, while four games produced no results. The 36-year-old has a win percentage of 46.15 as captain in the IPL.
Overall, the former India captain is the leading run-getter in the history of the T20 league. In 252 matches, he has amassed 8,004 runs at an average of 38.66 and a strike rate of 131.97, with eight hundreds and 55 half-centuries.