'When your mind is only running in one direction, you can tend to lose joy': Kohli opens up on leaving RCB captaincy

Virat Kohli stepped down as the captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore during the second phase of the 2021 Indian Premier League. He led the side through the entirety of the tournament and was one of the three players retained by the franchise ahead of the mega auction; Faf du Plessis, who was bought in the auction for INR 7 crore, was eventually named the new captain of the side ahead of the start of the season.

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In the past few months, Kohli also had a personal transition in leadership roles in international cricket. He left the T20I captaincy after the World Cup in October/November, was removed as skipper in ODIs in December and then relinquished the captaincy in the longest format of the game after the Test series defeat to South Africa in January.

The former RCB captain joined the squad last week as the side prepares for the upcoming season and in a conversation for the franchise's official website, spoke in detail about his experience of playing without leadership responsibilities.

“It's a good change. I'm much more relaxed,” Kohli said. The 33-year-old insisted that the “joy” of playing the game could be lost if the mind is focused over a particular thing for long. 

“(I have) the same excitement of coming to practice, focussing on my skills and what I need to do as a batter. Looking forward to these sessions was something I used to experience very regularly before. Somewhere, when you have other responsibilities, this tends to take a backseat. Over a period of time, when your mind is only running in one direction, you can tend to lose joy to come and practice.

“For me, that has always been the essence of playing cricket. I've always wanted for it to be alive within me and I certainly feel the joy of purely coming here and batting, hitting the ball again,” said Kohli.

On being asked if Kohli is feeling “10 years younger” as he joins the squad without the responsibility of being a captain, Kohli insisted that he takes a lot of pride in contributing to the team.

“A lot of people say that one should look at things at a point of view of responsibility. A lot of people don't understand that if you, as a player, cannot be the best version of yourself on the fied, then the responsibility, for me as a player, means nothing. You can still be a leader of the team and drive the team forward towards success and winning trophies, but I take a lot of pride in contributing for the team,” said the former RCB captain.

“So, if I feel that something is pushing that joy down, that fun factor of playing cricket and doing something special on the field, and having the knowledge that you have people who have able minds to take the team forward, then I think it's a wise decision for anyone to create some space for themselves. We can just take a deep breath and restructure things, and say, 'hold on, I might have not looked at a lot of things I need to work on, and here's a chance for me to restructure and find things to improve'. That is something I've experienced in this phase.”