Published: May 06, 2025, 01:49 PM (IST)
Edited: May 06, 2025, 01:49 PM (IST)
The constant pressure of leading India and Royal Challengers Bengaluru for nearly a decade and the relentless scrutiny around his batting “became too much in the end” for Virat Kohli, who says he stepped down from leadership to be in a “happy space”.
Kohli resigned as T20 captain after the World Cup in 2021, following which he also relinquished RCB’s leadership role. A year later, he quit Test captaincy following the defeat to South Africa.
“At one point, it did become tough for me because there was just too much happening in my career. I was captaining India for a period of 7-8 years. I captained RCB for nine years. There were expectations on me from a batting perspective every game that I played,” said Kohli in an ‘RCB Bold Diaries’ podcast.
“I didn’t have this sense that the attention was off me. If it wasn’t captaincy, it would be batting. I was exposed to it 24×7. It did get very tough on me, and it did get too much in the end,” he added
Kohli, who also took a month-long break from cricket in 2022 and did not touch a bat during that phase, added that a time had come in his life when he was struggling to by happy in the spotlight.
“That’s why I stepped down because I felt like if I’ve decided I want to be in this place, I need to be happy,” he further added.
“I need to have a space in my life where I can just come and play my cricket without being judged, without being looked at as what are you going to do this season and what’s going to happen now,” concluded Kohli, who has been with RCB since the inaugural edition of the IPL.
Virat Kohli led RCB from 2011 to 2023, leading the team in 143 matches. In the ongoing season of the IPL, the Bengaluru-based franchise is being captained by Rajat Patidar.
