Virat Kohli the reason behind Bangalore's poor show in the past? Virender Sehwag gives his opinion

One of the most loved teams in the Indian T20 League, Bangalore, finally made it to the playoffs in the ongoing 15th edition. The team has seen some major ups and downs in their campaign this season. However, they have stuck to their playing combination in most of their games. Former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag has credited head coach Sanjay Bangar and captain Faf du Plessis for the same.

He believes that the team has evolved a lot in terms of sticking to their combination, which was not the case early on. Du Plessis' leadership abilities have been fairly excellent, as he has led the team to the playoffs in his first season as captain. Bangalore won eight of their 14 league-stage games and advanced to the playoffs despite a negative net run rate, owing to Mumbai's victory over Delhi in their last league-stage game.

Sehwag stated that the addition of Bangar and Du Plessis to the squad has changed the team's attitude. He said that Kohli used to drop players frequently in previous seasons, which brought instability to the team. He believed that if any other Indian player had been the captain, then he would have been obliged to listen to the 33-year-old's suggestions. Sehwag stated that Kohli can now talk to Bangar instead of worrying about the outcome.

"The arrival of Sanjay Bangar as head coach and a new captain has changed RCB’s thinking. We have seen how Virat Kohli used to think as he used to drop a player after no performance in 2-3 games. But Bangar and Du Plessis have kept the team almost consistent throughout. Except for Patidar for Anuj Rawat, I don’t think they made any changes due to poor performance," Sehwag told Cricbuzz.

"If an Indian player had been captain and if Virat Kohli had given him some advice, he might have had to accept it under pressure. So this is what has changed with Du Plessis as captain. Sanjay Bangar has also worked with Kohli and he can have a conversation with him about that although he gives advice, the team wants to do something else," he added.