Why Virat Kohli Turned Down RCB Captaincy Offer? Star Wicket-keeper's Massive Revelation

Virat Kohli 's potential return as the RCB captain in IPL 2025 had set the cricket circuit ablaze. However, RCB handed the reigns to Rajat Patidar who will now lead the charge.

Following the departure of Faf du Plessis, speculations were pretty rife about his replacement. Virat was given the charge in 2012 and he led the team until the 2021 season. He guided RCB to two IPL finals but failed to lift the title once.

Jitesh Sharma Reveals Why Virat Kohli Turned Down RCB Captaincy

There were rumours that Virat was offered to lead the franchise this time but the 36-year-old turned down the opportunity. Now Jitesh Sharma has further fueled the speculation citing that Virat didn't want to captain the side. While speaking on the CricXtasy podcast, he said, "I got to know about Rajat Patidar becoming the captain when everyone else got to know. But when you have been around the game for a while, you understand the flow of things. Virat bhai did not want to captain the side.

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He further went on to explain that he doesn't know much details about what went behind the process.

“I don't know why he did not want to captain. I am not in the management side of things; when I am, I will let you know. But he has not been captaining in the last 2-3 years, so it felt that he would not do it this year as well. So, I think Rajat was the best option.”

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Virat Kohli Will Lead RCB's IPL 2025 Campaign

Virat Kohli leads the list of highest run scorers in IPL. The RCB star has amassed 8004 runs in 244 innings and has played in every IPL edition since its inception. He retired from the T20Is after India's T20 World Cup triumph and this will be his first IPL post-retrirement from the shortest format. The former Indian captain is still going strong and showed his flashes of brilliance in the recently concluded Champions Trophy 2025. Virat scored a splendid ton against Pakistan and also set the stage with an excellent innings against Australia in the semifinal.