Virat Kohli and Royal Challengers Bangalore are synonyms of each other. Star India batter has been phenomenal throughout his career and is the only player to represent a single team since the inception of the Indian Premier League. Kohli has openly spoken about the bond he shares and the faith franchise has shown in him.
Despite not winning a trophy, Kohli captained RCB for almost a decade from 2013 to 2021. He led his team to two finals and multiple playoffs while batting like a champion. Meanwhile, in a recent interview, Kohli dropped a bombshell by revealing that in the initial years, he approached a franchise to play with as he wanted to play in the top order in the cash-rich league.
Speaking with Robin Uthappa in a special interview, Kohli said that another franchise he approached was not even ready to listen to him and they denied his inclusion straightaway. Kohli further spoke about his time in RCB and why he respects the franchise.
He said, “It’s been amazing. Why I value this partnership and journey with RCB so much, is because, in the first 3 years of the IPL, they backed me a lot. Even when the retentions happened, they said, ‘We want to retain you’. My only feedback to Ray Jennings at the time was ‘I want to bat in top order. I bat at 3 for India, and I want to bat at 3! And they said, ‘Okay, you will bat at 3. They showed faith in me at the time when I needed it. I was growing in my international career as well.”
They denied it straightaway- Virat Kohli speaks about his quest
Kohli further went on to narrate the story that how a franchise didn’t even listen to him while he was looking for opportunities to play in top order. He further said, “That is of more value to me. I won’t take names but another franchisee who I spoke to at the time… they were not even keen enough to listen to me. I was playing lower down the order at the time (5-6).”
“I was like, ‘if I could get the opportunity to bat in the top of the order somewhere else…’ The same franchise, because I had played for India and performed in 2011, before the retention, came to me and said, ‘Can you please come to the auction?’ I said, ‘No chance. I will always be with the franchise that backs me”, he further added.
After listening to his story, Robin Uthappa expressed his surprise at how a franchise can deny Virat Kohli. In response, Kohli said, “Yes, it was. And they denied it straight away. I was like, fair enough.” Notably, Virat Kohli is playing his 16th season for the RCB and he is the only player to stay with a single franchise since the inception of IPL.
