Virat Kohli has given Royal Challengers Bangalore the kind of profile that very few cricketers can give even though he couldn’t end his leadership stint the way he would have liked, feels the legendary Sunil Gavaskar. Kohli’s dream of winning an IPL title with RCB ended in heartbreak after Kolkata Knight Riders beat them by four wickets in the eliminator on Monday. Gavaskar said not all scripts are written in the manner players want them to. Kohli had announced that he would step down as RCB skipper after the end of the 14th edition of the lucrative league.
“He has given RCB that kind of profile, that brand recognition that very (few) cricketers have given to their franchise,” Gavaskar told ‘Star Sports’.
The former India captain compared Kohli’s last match as RCB skipper with Donald Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar farewells. “Everybody wants to finish on a high. But these things never always happen according to your or fans’ wishes. Look at what happened to Sir Don Bradman. Just four runs were needed in his last innings and he gets out for a zero.
“Sachin Tendulkar would have wanted to finish with a hundred, he got 79 (Tendulkar scored 74) in Mumbai, his 200th Test match. 79 is not bad but somebody who is used to making hundreds would have wanted to get those extra 21 runs and then end his Test career there,” Gavaskar added.
Sharing his thoughts on Kohli’s failure to lift an IPL trophy, Gavaskar said Kohli had an ever-lasting impact on the team and mentioned the 2016 season when he amassed close to 1000 runs in a single edition.
“The script is not always written that way. Not everybody has this great fortune of going on a high. But can one ever dispute what he has done for RCB? He has done magnificently.
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“There was one year when he got 973 runs, 27 runs short of 1000 runs. Nobody has done it, nobody looks like ever getting to 1000 runs.”
Since taking over as RCB’s captain in 2013, Kohli has led the team to the play-offs four times, including the last two seasons, and the final in 2016. Kohli led RCB in 140 matches, winning 66 and losing 70. Four games did not produce any results.
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