Who will replace Virat Kohli as the next Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain? A question that has been doing the rounds for quite some time now but it became official when Kohli announced that IPL 2021 will be his last RCB’s skipper. Former South Africa speedster Dale Steyn, who has played a lot of cricket for RCB under Kohli, shared his thoughts on life after Kohli for the Bangalore-based franchise.

Weighing in on who could be the next potential candidate to take over the reins, Steyn said KL Rahul could be the next captain of RCB in the 15th edition of IPL.

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“If RCB are going to look at a long-term contender as captain, they should be looking within their own borders. The name I’ve got is an ex-Bangalore player. It’s KL Rahul. I just have a feeling he is going to return back to Bangalore in next year’s auction,” Steyn told ESPNCricinfo.

Rahul, who is currently leading Punjab Kings in IPL, was a part of the RCB set-up in the 2016 IPL and had a pretty good record at the top of the order with Kohli. An unfortunate injury ruled him out of the entire 2017 IPL and he was surprisingly released by the franchise ahead of 2018. In that auction, Punjab Kings picked him for ₹11 crore. Rahul was appointed as the PBKs skipper in 2020 when the Punjab franchise decided to trade Ashwin. 

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There is a mega auction set to take place with two new teams entering the competition. BCCI has not made any formal announcements but if reports are to be believed, the eight existing franchises won’t be allowed to retain more than two players.

Besides Rahul, AB de Villiers is another candidate, but when asked about the former South Africa captain’s chances of taking over from Kohli, Steyn said de Villiers is a very good leader but perhaps RCB would want to look at the future and appoint an Indian captain.

“I don’t think AB de Villiers is the right way to go. I think he is a phenomenal player. But he is at the end of his career. I think he is a great leader,” Steyn concluded.

RCB, meanwhile, have not gotten off to an ideal start in the UAE leg of the IPL. They were hammered by KKR in the first match and then CSK got the better of them in the next.