IPL: 'When I was at my peak, I got suggestions to leave RCB...', these athletes inspired kohli to stay
Kohli admitted that the stress had started affecting his love for the game. He has revealed in a podcast that during those tough years, he had also considered leaving RCB.
Virat kohli is the only player in the IPL who has been associated with the same team for 18 seasons. However, he had to struggle a lot to stay associated with the same team. It was not easy for him to do this and Kohli himself has revealed this in a podcast. He said in the 'RCB Bold Diaries podcast with Mayanti Langer that there was a time when he was getting suggestions to leave this franchise. He was at his peak then. However, then he realized that the relationship with the fans and the people was more important and he made Bangalore his home.
Mayanti asked kohli - 18 years in a franchise... have you ever linked it to global sports or the legends associated with it? Even great athletes like Jordan, Schumacher, Hamilton, Ronaldo, Messi... have never been associated with one franchise. We did research and perhaps only tom Brady is the only athlete who has been associated with the same team for 19 years. Have you ever thought like this? On this, kohli said, 'Yes, I have thought. There are many other names in it, even if they are not very big athletes, like Steven Gerrard (former Liverpool footballer), and Francesco Totti (former roma footballer). I have said before, I had the opportunity to explore and see another team during the heights of my career. From 2016 to 2019, I constantly got suggestions to switch. At one point it became difficult for me because a lot was happening in my life. Fans had expectations from me in every match.'
Kohli admitted that the stress had started affecting his love for the game. He said, 'I never felt burdened or felt that the attention of the fans was somewhere else. I was always in a place where I did not know what to do. I used to think about this 24x7 and it became difficult for me. I decided that if I wanted to stay in this place, I needed to be happy. I wanted to be in a place where I could play cricket without any perception.'
Kohli revealed that during those difficult years, he also considered leaving RCB, but insisted that he was never tempted or ready to take this step. In the end, he decided to build a mutual respect and meaningful relationship with this franchise. This demolished his possibilities and thoughts of joining any other franchise. kohli said, 'I would not say that I was tempted, but I thought about leaving the franchise. Then I asked myself what was more valuable to me. I have won a lot of things for India, I have earned a lot of praise.'
He said, 'Then I had to make a final decision. I thought - do I want to go to a new setup and understand things again? Then I realized that the relationship I have built here with this team... with this franchise... with the fans here is more valuable. It is a mutual respect that has developed over the years. Now I will just look at it this way. Whether we win or not, it doesn't matter, but this is my home.'
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