Virat Kohli, while stepping down as the Royal Challengers Bangalore captain, had confirmed that he would remain an RCB man all through his Indian Premier League career. He had also taken a salary cut to remain the Royals’ loyal. The batting legend had now revealed that he in the past was approached by other franchisees. But nothing could separate him from the team where he has been ever since the inception of the IPL.
“What this franchise has given to me in the first three years, and believed in me, is the most special thing. There were many teams who had the opportunity. They didn’t back me and they didn’t believe in me,” Kohli said during the RCB podcast.
“The loyalty with RCB, like how I follow my life, is far greater than five people saying you’ve finally won the IPL with XYZ. You feel good for five minutes and then the sixth minute you could be miserable with some other issue in life,” said Kohli philosophically.
Kohli revealed that several franchised had approached him in the past to join the auction pool. But no offer could buy the loyalty he has for RCB.
“I’ve been approached a few times as well to come into the auction somehow I have thought about it,” he said. “At the end of the day, a person lives a certain number of years, and then you die and life moves on. There have been many great players who have won trophies and things like that but no one addresses you like that.
“If you are a good person, people like you and if you are a bad guy, they stay away from you. Eventually, that’s what life is all about,” national news agency PTI has reported the excerpts from the podcast.
Kohli, who had stepped down as the RCB skipper after eight years at the end of last season, is the lone IPL player to have played for the same team ever since the league was launched in 2008.
