AB de Villiers is set to captain the Royal Challengers Bangalore in their opening fixture against Sunrisers Hyderabad on 5 April. 

RCB’s head coach, Daniel Vettori, confirmed that De Villiers will replace Virat Kohli, who picked up a shoulder injury in the final Test against Australia.

Kohli is set to join the squad on 2 April to be reassessed by the medical staff, who will set a date for the return of the Indian superstar.

‘He [Kohli] will come in on April 2,’ said Vettori.

‘Between now and then, the BCCI doctors and physio will speak to us [on his condition] and our medical staff will get a clearer picture.

‘Right now, we don’t have a clear picture. We’ll know in the next few days.’

De Villiers will play for Titans in the One Day Cup final on Friday before arriving in Bangalore on April 2.

‘The likely scenario is that De Villiers will take over the duties, but we’ll answer that once we find out if Virat is out,’ Vettori said.

De Villiers and Kohli were both in the top three in last year’s campaign.

The India captain ended the campaign with the most runs, scoring 973 @ 81.08, which included four 100s and seven 50s, while De Villiers ended third with 6887 runs @ 52.84 [one century and six half-centuries].

Photo: Shaun Roy / IPL/ SPORTZPICS