Follow UsOut of nowhere, Virat Kohli announced his move to step down from captaincy duties for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), as the franchise endured yet another painful exit from the tournament. In the aftermath of that, the franchise had to pick Faf du Plessis at the 2022 IPL mega auction and name him as the skipper.
But why did Kohli give up his captaincy when he was the face of the franchise?
"I've told this before. I've had this opportunity to explore, to look elsewhere, especially in the peak years of my career. From 2016-19, I had these constant suggestions to switch.. At one point it did become really tough for me because there was too much happening in my career,” Kohli told Mayanti Langer in RCB’s podcast.
“I was captaining India for a period of 7-8 years, was captaining RCB for 9 year. There were expectations from me from the batting perspective, every game I played,” he added.
Under Kohli’s captaincy, RCB have won 68 games but have equally endured some painful moments, losing 71 games. The right-hander reckoned he always wanted to be in the space where they ‘wanted to play cricket without being judged’.
"I did not have the sense, that attention was off me. I was always in the space where I didn't know 'what to do'? I was exposed to it 24×7 and it got really tough on me. I decided, if I wanted to be in this place, I needed to be happy. I wanted to be in space where I could just play my cricket, without being judged," he added.
Was there a situation where Kohli wanted to move away from RCB?
"I wouldn't say I was tempted, but I did think about it. I also asked myself the question 'what is more valuable to me'. 'I won a lot of things in my career for India. I have won a lot of accolades as well'.
"So I had to take a call. 'Do I want to go into a new setup and figure out life again'. So that is when I realised that the relationship is more valuable to me, and also the mutual respect that has been created over the so many years. And now I'm just gonna see it through. Whether we win or don't win, it's fine. This is my home."