IPL 2022: With change in leadership at RCB, we might actually see Virat Kohli of 2016, says Sunil Gavaskar

Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar reckons with change in leadership at Royal Challengers Bangalore, we might actually see Virat Kohli of 2016 in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League.

Kohli had decided to relinquish captaincy duties after the conclusion of the previous season and subsequently also quit the leadership role from the national team.

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli was at his absolute best in IPL 2016 as he scored 973 runs in the season, which is the most in any edition of the tournament. Kohli had scored four centuries in that edition and had played an instrumental role in taking Royal Challengers Bangalore to the final of the tournament.

Kohli will now play with no added responsibility of leadership as the baton has been passed to Faf du Plessis and thus the talisman can play freely as a batter.

Sunil Gavaskar said while talking on Star Sports Game Plan, “At the moment, we do not know whether Kohli will be captain again. Sometimes when a player is relieved of the burden of captaincy, he flourishes as he is not thinking about 10 other players.

“When you are captain, you are thinking about 10 other players and sometimes also the other members of your squad, about their form or lack of form and things that they are not doing right which, when they do it right, will be good for the team.

“This season, we might actually see the Kohli of 2016 when he got almost 1000 runs in the IPL season.”

On the other hand, Glenn Maxwell had scored 513 runs for RCB in 15 matches in the previous season of the tournament and thus played a key role in taking the team to the playoff stages. The Little Master believes Maxwell’s cricket will depend on how he will approach each inning.

“Maxwell’s cricket depends on how he approaches every inning. There are times when his approach has been unbelievably fantastic and then there are times it has not been that great.

“Last season, he was in a team with Virat Kohli and ABD, two of the finest batsmen that the game has seen and so maybe he lifted his game. He raised the level of his game to try to keep up with that.

“If he says to himself I am going to do what ABD has done for RCB, then RCB could be in for a real magic season from Maxwell.”

RCB will begin its IPL 2022 campaign on Sunday against Punjab Kings.