Virat Kohli Drops A Bombshell, Reveals He Wanted To Part Ways With RCB In Quest To Bat In Top Order Early In IPL Career
New Delhi: Virat Kohli is the only player in the history of IPL to play for the same franchise since the inception of the tournament. Kohli was bought by the RCB in IPL 2008 and the batter repaid the faith by delivering a staggering performance for the team. Kohli even led the team between 2013-2019. Even though Kohli couldn’t lead RCB to a title win, he was instrumental in making RCB the brand it is today.
In a recent interview with Robin Uthappa, Virat Kohli made a startling revelation and said that he spoke to another franchise during the initial years of his IPL career in a quest to bat in the top order. Notably, Kohli batted in the middle order in the first few years for RCB. Kohli went on to add that the franchise didn’t pick him but returned in 2011 with an offer to rope him which Kohli denied.
“That is of more value for me. I won’t take names but another franchise 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’,” Kohli further said.
Virat Kohli Reveals Why He Will Never Play For Another Franchise Apart From RCB
Virat Kohli time and again has said that he will never play for another franchise except RCB. The veteran further added that RCB showed faith in him and retained him, also offering a position in the top order.
“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,” Kohli told Robin Uthappa during an interview for JioCinema.