Lagatar24 Desk
Mumbai, Feb 7: Former India bowler Ajit Agarkar believes that having Virat Kohli as the captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 will be the easiest solution for the club.
Kohli had stepped down as RCB captain following the IPL 2021 season, but the franchise decided to keep him ahead of the major auction in 2022.
“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. 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,” said Agarkar.
“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,” he added.
Last week, the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 Player Auction list was released, with a total of 590 players slated to be auctioned off during the two-day mega auction in Bengaluru on February 12 and 13, 2022.
“Yes, I think so- I think to a large extent you have been able to retain some of the big names like Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul, those sorts of names,” Agarkar said of the two new teams (Lucknow and Ahemdabad) coming into the auction.
“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,” he said.
“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,” he further added.
Notably,10 IPL franchisees – Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Capitals, Kolkata Knight Riders, Lucknow Super Giants, Mumbai Indians, Punjab Kings, Rajasthan Royals, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Team Ahmedabad will be bidding this time for the players.
