Published: Mar 18, 2025, 10:09 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 18, 2025, 10:09 PM (IST)
After Virat Kohli spoke about Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) restricting the time that families can spend with player during tours, former Indian captain Kapil Dev has also shared his thoughts and supported the star Indian batter.
For those who are not familiar with the situation, the BCCI had issued a rule, which mainly implied that during a tour of more than 45 days, the families of a player to only stay with the players for two weeks.
The rule was even implemented during the 2025 Champions Trophy, as the families of players did not travel with the team when the Men in Blue travelled to Dubai. However, most players had either their partners or parents attending the final.
“It is very difficult to explain to people how grounding it is to come back to your family every time you have something intense happening on the outside, “I don’t think people have an understanding of what value it brings. I feel quite disappointed about that. People who have no control over what is going on are kind of brought into conversations and put out in the forefront. Maybe they need to be kept away,” Kohli had said at the at the Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Innovation Lab Indian Sports Summit.
Kapil came to support Kohli and called for BCCI to go with a balanced approach in this issue. He gave the example from how the team approached this issue when they used to play. The legend highlighted the need for the team to spend time with their families.
“Well, I don’t know, that’s individual. I think it’s the cricket board’s call. My view is, yes, you need family. But you also need a team, all the time. In our time, we used to say to ourselves, not by the cricket board, that the first half of the tour should be cricket, and in the second half, the family should come and enjoy it too. It should be a blend,” said Kapil on the sidelines of ‘Kapil Dev Grant Thornton Invitational’ event.
As of now, Virat Kohli has joined Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. They will begin their campaign against defending champions Kolkata Knight Rides (KKR) in the tournament opener on March 22.
