Former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) all-rounder Moeen Ali has revealed that the franchise came close to removing Virat Kohli from captaincy during the 2019 IPL season. According to Moeen, Parthiv Patel was a serious contender to take over the leadership role while Gary Kirsten was the head coach.
Virat Kohli, who took the reins from Daniel Vettori in 2013, led RCB until 2021. Despite his brilliance with the bat, RCB endured several disappointing seasons under his leadership, particularly between 2017 and 2019. The team finished at the bottom of the table in two of those three seasons, following their near-miss in the 2016 final.
Moeen, who played for RCB between 2018 and 2020, shared in an interview with Sports Tak that the franchise held serious talks about installing Parthiv Patel as skipper.
“𝒀𝒆𝒔, 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔. 𝑰’𝒎 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔,”
Moeen said.
“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.”
Virat Kohli Continued as Captain Until 2021
Despite the internal discussions, RCB did not make the leadership change. Virat Kohli remained as captain until he chose to step down in 2021 due to workload concerns. During his final years as captain, he led RCB to the playoffs in 2020 and continued to deliver stellar performances with the bat.
In the 2021 season, Kohli announced he would relinquish the captaincy, paving the way for Faf du Plessis to take over. Eventually, in 2025, RCB ended their title drought under Rajat Patidar’s captaincy, with Kohli playing a crucial role by scoring 657 runs across 15 matches.
Parthiv Patel, who was with the team until 2019, never returned to the IPL afterward.
“𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆. 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒊𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒆,” 𝑴𝒐𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒅, “𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰’𝒎 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒆.”
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