I'm not leaving RCB till the end of my career: Virat Kohli
It’s been an amazing journey at RCB for Virat Kohli. From a U-19 World Cup-winning captain to one of the legends of the game, the upward curve saw Kohli get adopted by the city of Bengaluru as one of their own.
And the RCB skipper reciprocates the love and respect in a great manner. The admiration is mutual. Talking to his teammate from RCB AB de Villiers, Kohli expressed his desire to never leave the team he has been a part of since the inception of the Indian Premier League in 2008.
"RCB shared a picture of the first game I played for RCB and now it’s been 12 years. It was in 2008 and now we are in 2020. It’s been such an amazing journey. It’s so surreal. You (ABD) have been here 9 years yourself. It’s been so amazing to actually look back and think. Obviously, we want to achieve the ultimate goal (winning the trophy) for RCB. We have come close thrice and have not been able to (win it). That’s always going to be our dream together. I was just thinking, looking back at this journey. There’s no way in any scenario that I can ever think of leaving this team. Because of the love and care the franchise has shown, the fans have shown. You can feel emotional about the season going well or not but you have that loyalty with Bangalore, with RCB. It’s been quite surreal. Till the time I am playing, regardless of how we play, I am never leaving this team. There is no chance in any situation that I am going to play for anyone else."
ABD echoed similar sentiments, “I never want to leave Bangalore, but I know I got to score runs if I want to stay there. So that has really pushed me and obviously the fans. But it is crazy when you look back. Every time you look back on memories of playing for any team, you think of relationships. You think about special moments, the crowd, the atmosphere. Those are the kind of things I am don’t want to ever give away. I want to be in Bangalore for that for I don’t know how many years to come. Hopefully, the IPL will happen this year, we will see what happens.”
Talking about the fate of IPL this year, Kohli said, “We have no clarity at this moment. But I am quite optimistic at some stage we will definitely have something, because things are moving in the right direction. It’s actually quite amazing because when people get back from this… when things are back to normal. I don’t see things getting back to normal in the same manner as they were before. I think there is going to be a lot of changes. A lot of discipline has to be shown by people everywhere. I am thinking people have to respect guidelines and rules everywhere. That surely is going to be our future, but whenever people come to watch games or the players come back to play, there is going to be such different energy and pure enjoyment.”
The 31-year-old also said that how the entire situation has allowed him to look back and reflect, “There are a lot of times when you get egoistic and think I am doing this or I am doing that; in reality, you are doing nothing. No one can do anything in this situation. We all have to just swallow our ego, just follow what has been told. Just be grateful for life, try and help those who are in need. It really puts things in perspective. When you don’t have control over anything; you can’t even get out of your own house, how can we claim to do something or make something happen? All we can do is just enjoy and just have a good attitude and give everything we have. I think it is drastically going to change, the enjoyment part of things, people are going to stop getting so serious about there own game and results. Pure love for everything is going to come out on the surface.”
Kohli and ABD touched upon a variety of subjects in a session that lasted close to an hour. The duo also selected their ODI XI comprising of players who have either retired in the recent past or are still a part of either team.
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