A new era for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will begin when they take on Punjab Kings (PBKS) in their IPL 2022 campaign opener on March 27 at DY Patil stadium. This will be the first time since 2013 Kohli will don the RCB jersey as a player, not captain. On March 22, Kohli entered the RCB bio-bubble ahead of the 10-team tournament. The 33-year-old shared his thoughts on bio-bubble, new captain Faf du Plessis and more in ‘RCB Bold Diaries’.
Kohli feels that his focus is clear now and wants to enjoy himself on field. He also talked about playing his 15th IPL season for the Bangalore-based franchise.
“Wow, 15! It's quite unbelievable the IPL has come this far. There’s renewed energy because I am off a lot of responsibilities and duties. And life is in a very good place. We have a child now; we have a family. For me, it’s all about just going on about life with a lot of joy and happiness and just watching our child grow. Just doing what I love, which is playing cricket. My focus is so clear now, and it’s so precise what I want to do. I want to just have a lot of fun and enjoy myself on the field. And give myself fully to this team and to this franchise like I have over so many years and without any load. I’m absolutely ready,” Kohli said.
Last year, Kohli announced that he will relinquish RCB captaincy before the start of second phase of IPL in UAE. In the IPL 2022 mega auction, RCB roped in Du Plessis for Rs 7 crore and later named him as captain. Ahead of Du Plessis’ RCB captaincy debut, Kohli revealed his first text message to him after the bidding ended.
“I messaged him as soon as he was picked for RCB. Sounded him off a little bit about what’s to come. It was obviously official after, but I knew that getting Faf at the auction for us, the plan was very clear that we need a leader in the changing room, who obviously commands a lot of respect. Doesn’t demand it, he commands it because he’s been there, done that. He’s a Test captain, so, that profile comes with a lot of accolades already. We are absolutely excited for him to lead RCB this year, and I’m sure he’ll do a tremendous job. We get along really well. All of us with him, myself, Maxi (Glenn Maxwell), Harshal (Patel) and Dino (Dinesh Karthik) have met him already and I think all the other guys will really enjoy this environment and team,” the Delhi-born batter backed the new RCB captain.
As Kohli joined the bio-bubble, he talked about the challenges of getting quarantined and living inside the bio-bubble.
“I would have preferred not to be here (at the hotel). Because I’m in Bombay and home’s literally 20 minutes from here and you can’t go home, you can’t do anything. But it is what it is. You just got to go through whatever shows you’re left with, catch up on a couple of shows, read a book which you’re still going on with and a lot of video calls at home,” he concluded.
