#IPL10: AB de Villiers to lead to Royal Challengers Bangalore in Virat Kohli's absence

New Delhi: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) coach Daniel Vettori confirmed on Thursday that South African batsman AB de Villiers would take over as the captain of the Bengaluru based team for the initial few matches owing to Virat Kohli being sidelined due to his shoulder injury.

Interacting with media in RCB's first press conference ahead of tenth edition of the tournament, Vettori said that the Proteas batsman will lead the side if Indian skipper fails to play the initial few matches.

“He will join in on April 2, but between now and then, the BCCI doctors and physio will speak to us and our medical staff will get a clearer picture," said Vettori. "We’ll clear picture of his availability in the next few days."

“The likely scenario is that AB de Villiers will take over the duties, but we’ll answer that once we find out if Virat is out.”

It was during the third Test of the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar series against Australia, at Ranchi, that the Indian skipper had incurred a serious shoulder injury.

As a result, he had to miss final Test match at Dharamsala on the advice of Indian physio Patrick Farhat.

Vettori, in the team's first press conference of the season, confirmed that Virat would join the team on April 2. However, the 28-year-old would be available for the matches only if BCCI's medical team gives him a green signal.