Former cricketer and commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has expressed his opposition to Virat Kohli being reappointed as the captain of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for the IPL 2025 season. Manjrekar believes that RCB should assess Kohli's recent performances with the bat rather than focusing on his stature within the game.

RCB recently released their retention list for the upcoming season, making Virat Kohli their top retention for a hefty INR 21 crore. Alongside Kohli, the franchise has retained Rajat Patidar and Yash Dayal, while notable names like Glenn Maxwell and former captain Faf du Plessis have been released.

Sanjay Manjrekar, speaking to ESPNcricinfo, said: "Remove Virat Kohli and his stature from your mind and only look at his performances in the Indian Premier League. Look at his performances as a batter and as a captain. Last season, he had a strike rate of 150, but it was in the 120s in previous seasons."

Kohli captained RCB from 2013 to 2021, leading them to the playoffs four times, including a memorable run to the finals in 2016. However, Manjrekar questions his impact in T20 cricket. “As a T20 player, can Virat Kohli make an impact? Because he is Virat Kohli, 95 percent of fans want him to be the captain. But if you look at his performances, his contributions haven’t been impressive enough.”

Manjrekar also added, “I don’t like being emotional. I don’t want to deviate from the truth with hero worship like fans. In Test cricket, Virat Kohli is out of form, but India needs him. But in T20s, I don’t think he is as great a player as he was 7-8 years ago.”