Royal Challengers Bengaluru Director of Cricket, Mo Bobat, has expressed profound admiration for Virat Kohli’s 'ridiculously' consistency over his remarkable 18-year tenure with the franchise. Speaking on the RCB Podcast, Bobat emphasized that given Kohli has dedicated his entire youth and prime playing years to the team, the absolute minimum the management can do is construct a championship-winning side around him.
Virat Kohli will forever be the icon and the hero of this team: Mo Bobat
The franchise enters the upcoming Indian Premier League season in a historic position as defending champions. Last year, RCB finally ended their 18-year wait for silverware by lifting their maiden title, a milestone that has significantly raised expectations for the team's future endeavors.
"Virat Kohli, obviously, I think he'll forever be the icon and the hero of this team. I don't think that's going to go away, and he deserves that. His track record is incredible. I remember at one point last season seeing his stats when he got to however many runs it was -- close to 9,000 runs -- 18 years wearing just one shirt. That's 500 runs a season," Mo Bobat said.
"It's actually ridiculous. For seven years or something like that, some players would be happy with a 500-run season. He averages 500 runs a season for 18 years. It's actually ridiculous. So, you can't ignore that," he added.
RCB achieved their historic title win under the unexpected leadership of Rajat Patidar, who was appointed captain after replacing Faf du Plessis just ahead of the IPL 2025 season. This major leadership change proved to be a masterstroke for the franchise.
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"We spent a lot of time thinking about that captaincy decision. I don't mind saying in my career there aren't that many decisions that I've thought about as long and as deeply as that one. And (the) thinking started in the season before. We were very blessed to have someone like Faf (du Plessis) as our captain. Everybody knows what a champion person Faf is. He was still a player doing the business at that stage as well. We could have easily just rolled him over and continued with Faf, having built a strong connection and relationship and trust with him," he further stated.
"But sport is pretty ruthless. You've got to look at the reality of his age and stage. And again, I mentioned earlier, the big auction gave us a chance to do a bit of a reset. We felt like (having) an Indian captain was really important. It's an Indian competition, so having an Indian captain I think is really important," he continued.
I don't want us to have a mindset of us defending anything: Bobat
Looking ahead, Bobat emphasized that the team is far from satisfied with just a single championship title.
"We're not defending champions. We're not defending anything. We might be current champions, but I don't want us to have a mindset of us defending anything. We're attacking. We're chasing something else. We're chasing back to back wins," Bobat concluded.