Virat Kohli admits 'thinking about leaving' RCB, opens up on quitting captaincy: 'Had opportunity to explore in my peak'

Virat Kohli admits 'thinking about leaving' RCB, opens up on quitting captaincy (BCCI Photo)

Virat Kohli has been an integral part of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), experiencing both highs and lows of the franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL) over the years. The 37-year-old is still the only player in the history of the competition to have represented the same team in every IPL season. The former RCB skipper, however, did ponder about changing teams at one point in his career, making the shocking admission in an interview posted on RCB's social media website.

Kohli discussed in length about the challenging phase between 2016 and 2019 in the latest RCB podcast that was released on Tuesday. The pressure to lead the Indian squad and the RCB during this period weighed heavily on him. The Indian icon acknowledged that he had to resign as captain due to the increased demands of world cricket and the ongoing scrutiny of his play.

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"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. I was captaining India for a period of 7-8 years, was captaining RCB for 9 years. There were expectations from me from the batting perspective, every game I played.

"I did not have the sense. 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 told Mayanti Langer in the podcast.

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Following the conclusion of the IPL 2021 season, Kohli resigned as captain of the RCB. He gave up his position as India's captain in the T20I format shortly after. The BCCI stripped him from the ODI captaincy in November 2021 because they did not want two different white-ball captains. After a back-and-forth between Kohli and Sourav Ganguly, the BCCI president at the time, the former also stepped down from his Test leadership in January 2022, less than twenty-four hours after India's series defeat in South Africa.

Kohli also acknowledged that he had first thought about leaving RCB during these difficult years, but he said he was never "tempted" by the prospect. In the end, he valued the "valuable" relationship he had developed over the years in RCB and "mutual respect" over a new arrangement.

"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 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," said Kohli.