A four wicket defeat on Monday night to Kolkata Knight Riders ended Virat Kohli's career as an IPL captain with Royal Challengers Bangalore getting knocked out of the tournament following the loss in the Eliminator.
Kolkata chased down the target of 139 with two balls to spare and will now face Delhi Capitals in Qualifier 2 for a place in Friday's final against Chennai Super Kings.
RCB though have ended yet another season without a trophy thought this one will also be the franchise's last with Virat Kohli as their captain. The Indian skipper announced last month that he will be giving up RCB's captaincy at the end of this season, to reduce his workload.
After the match though the 32-year-old reconfirmed that he will not be keen to change his IPL franchise and would like to return to play in red next season.
"I’ve tried my best to create a culture where youngsters could come in and play expressive cricket, play with belief. That’s something I've tried to do in the India team level as well. All I can say is that I have given my best. I don’t know how the response of that has been but I can vouch for the fact that I have given my 120% to this franchise every year leading the team and I will continue to give that effort on the field, as a player from now on," he said.
"It’s a great time to regroup and restructure the franchise for the next three years and bring in people who can take this culture and this franchise to the next level, moving forward," added Virat talking about the big IPL auction at the end of this year that will see all players returning to the auction pool, apart from three that teams will choose to retain. This time there is to be two new IPL teams added to the roster with the league turning into a 10-team affair from next season.
Virat was then asked if he would indeed be returning in the RCB red next season and he answered in the affirmative.
"Yes, definitely. As I said, I don’t see myself playing anywhere else. To me, loyalty matters more than other things that from a worldly point of view seem more important. This franchise has believed in me and as I said, my commitment is to this franchise till the last day that I play the IPL," he said.
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