Indian batter Virat Kohli has been the face of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) since its inaugural season in 2008.
The star batter has repeatedly expressed his loyalty to the Bengaluru-based franchise, making it clear that he wants to represent only RCB in the tournament. Over the years, Kohli has delivered several match-winning performances and also led the side as captain from 2013 to 2021.
Despite his long association with the franchise, Kohli had to wait until 2025 to lift his maiden IPL trophy with RCB. Under Rajat Patidar's captaincy, the team ended its title drought and successfully defended the title in 2026 to secure back-to-back IPL tournament wins.
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While Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have continued to back Virat Kohli, former Indian and RCB wicketkeeper-batter Parthiv Patel has revealed that he was offered the captaincy ahead of the 2019 Indian Premier League (IPL) season.
"Were you offered the RCB captaincy?" Former India opener Aaksah Chopra asked Patel.
"I have never talked about this, but Moeen Ali mentioned it in an interview. The fact is that I was told, 'Be ready, we are thinking about this for next year.' But the next year, the two people who offered it to me Ashish Nehra and Gary Kirsten were replaced, new coaches came in, and I didn't get to play a single match that entire season," said Parthiv during an interaction on Aakash Chopra's YouTube channel.
Former England all-rounder Moeen Ali, who previously played for RCB, had earlier claimed that the franchise was considering replacing Kohli as captain during the 2019 season, with Parthiv being lined up as his potential successor.
"Yes, I think he was. I'm quite sure he was. In the final year when Gary Kirsten was there, after the first year, I believe Parthiv was in line to become captain. He had a brilliant cricketing brain," Moeen said on Sports Tak.
"That was the talk at the time. I don't know what happened or why it didn't materialise, but I'm sure he was seriously considered for the role," he added.
However, Kohli continued to lead RCB throughout the 2019 season and remained captain until the end of IPL 2021, when he stepped down from the role, citing that the former Indian captain needs to manage his workload.
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The 37-year-old batter has played 283 matches for RCB and scored 9,336 runs at a strike rate of 134.79, with 68 half-centuries and nine centuries to his name.
He also holds the record for the most runs in a single IPL season, scoring a whopping 973 runs in 2016, when he led his team to the final, where they lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight runs.
He is also the all-time leading run-scorer in the IPL, more than 2,000 runs ahead of Rohit Sharma, who is second on the list with 7,329 runs from the same number of matches.
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