IPL 2022: Virat Kohli Thought About Putting His Name Back Into Auctions, Here’s Why He Backed Out

Mumbai: Former India and RCB captain Virat Kohli is probably the only Indian player to play for an IPL franchise for around 14 years. In a recent interaction with Star Sports, Kohli revealed how he thought about putting his name back into the IPL auctions but backed out due to his loyality for the franchise.

Kohli was just 18 when he first played for RCB in 2008. Appointed the franchise’s captain in 2011, Kohli enjoyed his best season in 2016 when he amassed a whopping 973 runs, the most by a player in a single edition of the IPL. An IPL trophy, though, continues to elude Kohli, who played in the finals of 2009 and 2016 editions.

On his loyalty towards RCB (even though he still hasn’t won a trophy for them in the IPL), Kohli said, “To be very honest I thought about it. Yes, I won’t shy away from it and I have been approached many times as well to come into the auction somehow, put my name there and stuff.

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“And then I thought about it, I was like at the end of the day everyone has X numbers of years that they live and then you die and life moves on. There would have been many great people who won trophies but no one addresses you like that. No one addresses you in the room like ‘Oh he’s an IPL champion or he’s a World Cup champion.

“It’s like if you are a good person, people like you, if you’re a bad guy, they just stay away from you and eventually that’s what life is all about.”

“For me the understanding that the loyalty with RCB like how I follow my life is far greater for me than the fact that five people in the room will say oh finally you win the IPL with whoever xyz. You feel good for five minutes but then sixth minute you could be miserable with some other issues in the life. So it is not the end of the world for me.

“What this franchise has given me in terms of opportunities in the first three years and believed in me that is the most special thing because as I said there are many teams who had the opportunity, but they didn’t back me, they didn’t believe in me.

RCB will battle it out against CSK in a southern derby, on Wednesday, at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium.

Inputs from PTI