Virat Kohli is the only IPL player who has been with the same franchise from the very beginning. Kohli was an 18-year-old youngster with the Royal Challengers Bangalore when the IPL kicked off in 2008, and 12 years later, he’s heading into the tournament’s 13th edition as its second-highest run-scorer of all time and one of the best batsmen in the world.’
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It was in 2011 that Kohli became captain of RCB, and he’s also scored a whopping 973 runs in a season – the most by a player in a single edition of the IPL – in 2016. However, an IPL crown has eluded Kohli. RCB’s best IPL performance has been a runner-up finish, which they achieved twice, reaching the final in 2009 and 2016. But despite not getting his hands on the IPL trophy, Kohli has formed a special bond with the franchise that prevents him from switching sides.
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“It has been 12 years. It is such an amazing journey, so surreal. For a lot of people, it’s all about obvious we want to achieve the ultimate goal for the RCB. We have come close thrice but haven’t made it,” Kohli said in a video posted by RCB’s Twitter handle. “That’s always gonna be our dream together and I was just thinking there is no way in any scenario that I can ever think of leaving this team, because of the love and care, the franchise has shown.
{{/usCountry}}“It has been 12 years. It is such an amazing journey, so surreal. For a lot of people, it’s all about obvious we want to achieve the ultimate goal for the RCB. We have come close thrice but haven’t made it,” Kohli said in a video posted by RCB’s Twitter handle. “That’s always gonna be our dream together and I was just thinking there is no way in any scenario that I can ever think of leaving this team, because of the love and care, the franchise has shown.
{{/usCountry}}“You can feel emotional about the season going well or not but to have that loyalty with Bangalore, with RCB its quite surreal. Till the time I play IPL, regardless of how we play, I’ll never leave this team.”
Kohli is warming up for the IPL in style. After spending nearly six months in lockdown, Kohli had last week said that his first net session fared better than he had expected. Several batting sessions later, Kohli has maintained his stance.
“Five months (back) is the last time when I had a net session. So, we had a net session in India when South Africa was here but we could not play the match in Dharamshala because it was raining. Then we got to Lucknow and then we had to come back,” Kohli added. “So, the last session which was five months ago, honestly I did not feel like that. You are just ready to be moving and mobile on the field and then the instincts kick in.”