Wanted some space, says Kohli on stepping down as RCB skipper

PTI

Mumbai, February 24

Virat Kohli, who had stepped down as the Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper after the 2021 IPL season, said he took that call to give himself some space and manage his workload.

Kohli had announced his decision to leave IPL captaincy after saying that T20 World Cup will be his last tournament as India skipper in the shortest format.

He was later removed as ODI captain before he quit the leadership role in five-day format. “I’m not someone who holds onto things more than I should. Even if I know I can do a lot more, if I’m not going to enjoy the process, I’m not going to do it,” Kohli, one of the modern day greats, said on “The RCB Podcast” about dropping the captain’s armband.

The former RCB and India skipper asserted that it is very difficult for people to understand what a cricketer thinks while taking such decisions.

“Because it’s very difficult for people to understand your decisions unless they are in your situation. From the outside, people have their own expectations ‘Oh! How did that happen? We are so shocked’,” added Kohli, who is on the verge of playing his 100th Test.

“There’s nothing to be shocked about. I explain to people, I wanted some space and I wanted to manage my workload and the story ends there.” Right from the inaugural IPL till last season, RCB have never won the cash-rich tournament.

Rubbishing all the conversations that people had about his decision, Kohli cleared the air saying, “There was actually nothing at all. I keep my life very simple and basic, when I wanted to make a decision, I made a decision and I announced it.

“I didn’t want to think about it and contemplate it for another year. That would’ve done nothing to me, nothing to the environment I’m part of. Quality of life is something very important to me. And the quality of cricket is something very important to me.

“Over a period of time, you want to do what you’re doing day-in-and-day-out and you want to do as much as you can, but at the end of the day, you have to realize that quality is far more important than quantity,” stressed Kohli.

The elegant top order batter also stressed that he has always been himself.

“Quantity in hard work but quality in execution. That is the key. If you go for quantity in execution, then you’re going to get burnt out. If I can’t be myself in my everyday life and I can’t be myself on the field, I will change something.

“Because that is who I am. That is the reason I am where I am. And that is the reason why people can connect to me at a certain level. My loved ones, people who are close to me, my friends they connected to me because of that factor, because I’ve always been myself,” he signed off.

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