Former Team India player and two time Indian Premier League winner Gautam Gambhir believes that Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli should be removed as RCB’s captain, reported PTI. This comes a day after Royal Challengers Bangalore failed to qualify for the IPL finals.

Gambhir said the 32-year-old’s under whelming performance for the Bangalore team was ground enough to remove him from his post of captainship at the helm.

Quizzed about Kohli’s removal from captainship, Gautam Gambhir told sports media outlet ‘ESPN Cricinfo,’ “Eight years into the tournament, without a trophy, eight years is a long time.” 

The 39-year-old world cup winner addressed the issue of Kohli’s removal from captainship of his Bangalore side, and advocated for it, saying, “100 %, because the problem is about accountability.” 

The former Kolkata Knight Riders skipper, Gambhir, who is known for his straight talk, also said that Kohli was not in the same league as MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma in the IPL.

He added, “Tell me any other captain…forget about captain, tell me any other player who would have got eight years and wouldn’t have won the title and would have still continued with it.”

Also Read: Virat Kohli’s RCB fail to end IPL drought, succumb to David Warner’s SRH in the eliminator 

In a sharp critique of the Bangalore skipper, Gambhir said, “You’re the leader, you’re the captain. When you get the credit, you should take the criticism as well.”

He unloaded on the Bangalore skipper, saying “You can keep saying ‘we qualified for the playoffs and we deserved to qualify for the playoffs’, absolutely not. RCB actually never deserved to qualify for the playoffs.”

Gambhir, who has always been razor sharp in his criticism of Virat Kohli’s role as a captain in the IPL, added, “Somewhere down the line, he needs to put his hand up and say, yes, I am responsible. I am accountable.”

Citing Kings XI Punjab’s example, Gambhir stated that Ravichandran Ashwin’s two unsuccessful bids as captain for the Punjab side had cost him his place in the side.

Gambhir added, “We talk about MS Dhoni, we talk about Rohit Sharma, we talk about Virat Kohli…not at all. Dhoni has won three (IPL) titles, Rohit Sharma has won four titles, and that’s the reason they’ve captained for such a long time because they’ve delivered.”

“I’m sure if Rohit Sharma wouldn’t have delivered for eight years, he would have been removed as well. There should not be different yardsticks for different people,” added Gambhir.

Also Read: ‘Didn’t put enough pressure on Hyderabad,’: Virat Kohli as RCB crash out of IPL

Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore last played in an IPL final in 2016, when they lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad. The side in search of its maiden title, will look the resume their quest when they play in the IPL in 2021.