Dubai: Former Kolkata Knight Riders captain, Gautam Gambhir has offered a piece of advice to Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli for the upcoming IPL in UAE.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) title is something that has eluded Royal Challengers Bangalore since its inception in 2008. Despite having power-packed batting department with Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers they never won a IPL tittle. The bowling department has always led to their downfall in the game. Now Goutam Gambhir highlighted some of the major differences between MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli’s captaincy.
Gambhir urged Kohli to give his players at RCB a longer run at IPL 2020. Gambhir said it’s important that the RCB skipper sticks with his players if he feels he has a ‘balanced squad’ at his disposal.
“What Virat Kohli has said, when you are happy with your squad as a captain, you would have already planned which playing XI you want to play. If you are satisfied, then the calmness also comes along. Because there are times that you do not come to know your best XI in the entire tournament and that is why you make a lot of changes,” Gambhir said on Star Sports Cricket Connected show.
“I still feel that RCB look a little batting-heavy. But one thing that you will see a little different is that the bowlers will be happy because they will not have to play 7 matches at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.”
“The biggest difference between Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni is that MS Dhoni persists with his players for 6-7 matches. If you see RCB’s trend, they make changes very quickly because they have a doubt that their playing XI does not have a proper balance.”
“So I would want to see from RCB that even if the start is not good, they should persist with their playing XI and give them 6-7 matches. Because then only the players will give you performances and not if you give one or two matches. If they start with Moeen Ali, they should give him 6-7 matches. If he doesn’t perform in the beginning, they should not get in another player. So if Virat Kohli has calmness in his mind that this is the most balanced squad, the important thing will be how they perform and how much he persists with these players.”
RCB will play their first match against the Sunrisers Hyderabad on September 21 in the UAE.
