Former skipper Virat Kohli has been with only one Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise throughout his 15-year IPL career — the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Kohli has been a part of RCB since the inception of IPL back in 2008, even leading them to the final in 2016 where they eventually lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).
Kohli, who took over as RCB skipper in 2013, had relinquished RCB captaincy following the conclusion of IPL 2021, but continues to be an integral part of the franchise, having been retained for Rs 15 crore ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction.
In an interaction on an RCB franchise show on official broadcasters Star Sports, Kohli revealed that many franchises had the opportunity to pick him at the auction but nobody believed in him and backed him at the start of his career.
“What this franchise has given me in terms of opportunities in the first three years and believed in me that is the most special thing because as I said there are many teams who had the opportunity, but they didn’t back me, they didn’t believe in me,” revealed the 33-year-old.
According to The Hindustan Times, it was reported that Delhi Daredevils (Currently Delhi Capitals) had a chance to select an India Under-19 cricketer from the draft but instead of Kohli, they went with bowler Pradeep Sangwan.
Kohli has played for RCB 218 times over the 15 seasons and has amassed 6,499 runs, the most by any player in the history of the league.
As a captain, Kohli has led the team on 140 occasions, having won 64 of those, according to ESPNCricinfo.
Ahead of being retained by RCB, Kohli had reiterated on his loyalty towards the franchise, saying, “To be very honest I thought about it. Yes, I won’t shy away from it and I have been approached many times as well to come into the auction somehow, put my name there and stuff. And then I thought about it, I was like at the end of the day everyone has X numbers of years that they live and then you die and life moves on.”
RCB sit on the fourth spot in the points table with 12 points following a 13-run win over CSK. Kohli has not had the best of seasons this time, having scored just 216 runs in 11 matches thus far and will be looking for consistency in the rest of the campaign.
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