We might see Kohli of 2016 IPL season: Gavaskar

Mumbai, March 26 : As Mayank Agarwal’s Punjab Kings (PBKS) take on the Faf du Plessis-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on March 27, the spotlight will be on Virat Kohli who relinquished captaincy after last year’s Indian Premier League. Kohli will take the field as non-captain for RCB for the first time since 2012. Former India captain S l Gavaskar on Saturday opined that with change in leadership, fans can expect Kohli from the 2016 season. “At the moment, we do not know whether Kohli will be captain again. Sometimes when a player is relieved of the burden of captaincy, he flourishes as he is not thinking about 10 other players. “When you are captain, you are thinking about 10 other players and sometimes also the other members of your squad, about their form or lack of form and things that they are not doing right which when they do it right, will be good for the team. This season, we might actually see the Kohli of 2016 where he got almost 1000 runs in the IPL season.” Talking about Glenn Maxwell, Gavaskar said the Australia all-rounder’s cricket depends on how he “approaches every innings”. “There are times when his approach has been unbelievably fantastic and then there are times it has not been that great. Last season, he was in a team with Virat Kohli and ABD, two of the finest batsmen that the game has seen and so maybe he lifted his game. “He raised the level of his game to try to keep up with that. If he says to himself I am going to do what ABD has done for RCB, then RCB could be in for a real magic season from Maxwell.” BM