Virat Kohli eventually breaks silence when left as India, RCB captain: “It was exposed …”

For almost a decade, the constant pressure of India and royal challenges Bangalore for almost a decade and the tireless investigation around his batting for Virat Kohli “became too much”, which says that he stepped into a “happy place” with leadership. Kohli resigned as T20 captain after the World Cup in 2021, after which he also abandoned the role of RCB’s leadership. A year later, he left the captaincy after the defeat of South Africa. Kohli said that he reached a point in his career where continuous attention became unbearable. “At one point, it was difficult for me because a lot was happening in my career. I was captaining India for a period of 7-8 years. I captained RCB for nine years. Every game I played had expectations from a batting perspective.”

“I did not understand that meditation was away from me. If it was not captaincy, it would be batting. I was made aware of 24×7. It became very difficult on me, and it was very much in the end.” Kohli, who took a month’s break from cricket in 2022 and did not touch a bat during that phase, said that there was a time in his life when he was struggling to be happy in the headlines.

“So I stepped down because I felt that if I have decided that I want to live at this place, I need to be happy.

Kohli said, “I need to be a place in my life, where I can play my cricket without just covered, without paying attention to what you are going to do in this season and what is going on now,” Kohli said, who has been with RCB since the inaugural edition of the IPL.

India, the leading India for the Under -19 World Cup title, did not guarantee Vijay a uninterrupted entry into the senior team, and Kohli said that it was his determination and supported the then captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and coach Gary Kirsten, helping him to secure the number 3 batting site in the side.

“I was very realistic about my abilities. Because I saw many other people playing. And I didn’t feel that my game was close to them. The only thing I had was determined. And if I wanted to win my team, I was ready to do anything.

“This was the reason that I was likely to play for India initially. And Gary (Kirsten) and MS (Dhoni) made me clear that we were supporting you to play you at number three.” Kohli said that both of them encouraged him to play his natural game, knowing that he would always be a fighter on the field.

“This is what you can do for the team. You on the field, represent your energy, your engagement, the biggest value for us. We want you to play this way.

“So, I was never seen as this lump sum match winner, which can change the game from anywhere. But I had this, I am going to live in the fight. I am not going to give up. And that is what he has supported.” Kohli feels that nervous energy is something that is important for success in cricket, and no matter how many runs are there, it is something that keeps a player in competitive mode.

“What happens when you are young, you feel like this, ‘If I have scored in the amount of X at this age or by whatever it is, things will decrease. It never happens.

“And this is really a marker. When you stop feeling that nervousness or the expectation of that expectation is how things are going to be revealed when people say that you are doing,” he said.

“So it never goes away from you because it is a lot of energy that you need to do in that moment, in the present moment, which keeps you to do.”