AB de Villiers to captain RCB in Virat Kohli's absence

South African star batsman AB de Villiers is all set to lead the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2017) till the time regular skipper Virat Kohli regains fitness. The RCB camp have been jolted heavily with their regular captain Kohli being injured ahead of the tournament starter. Kohli had injured his shoulder during the third Test against Australia at Ranchi.

Following the injury, he did come out to bat in the Test match but failed to score big runs. Also, he subsequently missed out on the final Test at Dharamsala owing to the same shoulder injury. Now, he is expected to miss the first few days of the T20 carnival. Till the time he regains fitness, another RCB stalwart, AB de Villiers will take in-charge of the side.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore team head coach Daniel Vettori confirmed the same recently. Giving an update on Virat Kohli, Vettori noted that the Indian captain will join the team camp on April 2 and will be thereby monitored closely by the BCCI doctors to see his recovery. He further added that the current plight of the injury is not very clear to the RCB camp but that will change with the doctors giving an update sometime soon.

As per the quotes in Sportskeeda, Vettori said, “He will come in on April 2. Between now and then, the BCCI doctors and physio will speak to us and our medical staff will get a clearer picture. Right now, we don’t have a clear picture on his availability. We’ll know in the next few days.”

There is not much to worry for the fans as the leadership role, if shifted, will be in experienced hands. Vettori remarked that AB de Villiers would be the obvious choice to lead the side but that can only be confirmed once Kohli is ruled out of the tournament starter. “The likely scenario is that AB de Villiers will take over the duties, but we’ll answer that once we find out if Virat is out,” Vettori added.