Former Indian wicketkeeper batsman Parthiv Patel has supported Moeen Ali's claims that Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) was preparing to remove Virat Kohli from the captaincy.
Sports News: An old issue regarding the captaincy of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) has again come into discussion. Former Indian wicketkeeper batsman Parthiv Patel has revealed that he was being considered for handing over the captaincy of the team after the 2019 season. According to Parthiv, the then coaching staff members Ashish Nehra and Gary Kirsten had told him about this possibility.
However, later there was a change in the coaching staff of the team and the plan regarding captaincy could not go ahead. This revelation has once again brought to the fore an interesting aspect of the early years of RCB under the leadership of Virat Kohli.
What did Parthiv Patel reveal?
Former Indian cricketer Parthiv Patel told that he was indicated that he can take over the captaincy of RCB in the next IPL season. He shared this during a conversation with cricket commentator Aakash Chopra. According to Parthiv, this possible change was discussed with him, but circumstances changed before the next season. The same people who had told him about the possibility of captaincy were out of the coaching staff of the franchise. After this a new coach came and Parthiv did not get an opportunity to play a single match in the entire 2020 season.
Parthiv also clarified that he had not spoken much on this topic in public earlier. After this matter was mentioned in an interview of Moeen Ali, he shared his information.
RCB's coaches were Ashish Nehra and Gary Kirsten.
Ashish Nehra was the bowling coach of RCB in the 2018 and 2019 IPL seasons, while Gary Kirsten served as the head coach of the team. At that time Virat Kohli was captaining the team. The 2019 season was disappointing for RCB. The team finished at the bottom of the points table and its performance throughout the tournament was not up to expectations. After this the franchise changed its coaching structure.
Mike Hesson took over the responsibility of cricket operations for the 2020 season, while Simon Katich became the head coach. With this change, the possible plan of handing over the captaincy to Parthiv also could not go ahead.
Was Moeen Ali also in the race for captaincy?
According to Parthiv Patel's statement, the name of England all-rounder Moeen Ali was also considered for the captaincy. However, Parthiv revealed that he was put forward for the role. Moeen Ali's earlier statement also mentioned a possible change in the captaincy of RCB.
Parthiv's words have given another context to this discussion. However, the complete picture of how far the plan to change the captaincy had progressed and what was the final stand of the franchise management has not been revealed.
Why did Parthiv not get a chance in 2020?
Parthiv Patel could not play a single match for RCB in the 2020 IPL season. At that time, AB de Villiers took over the responsibility of wicketkeeping in the team, while young batsman Devdutt Padikkal got a chance to open the innings with Virat Kohli. This change proved useful for the team.
RCB made it to the playoffs for the first time since 2016. However, the team was not successful in winning the title and had to face defeat in the eliminator match. At the end of the 2020 season, Parthiv announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. Thus, his last match in IPL was in 2019 only.