How $2.25 billion cricket board made Virat Kohli ‘sit alone and sulk’

Indian team star Virat Kohli expressed disappointment with the BCCI's decision to keep players away from their families.

How $2.25 billion cricket board made Virat Kohli ‘sit alone and sulk’

Virat Kohli expressed disappointment at BCCI's decision to keep families away from players, during international tours (via CNN)

Indian cricket star Virat Kohli noted his dissatisfaction with the BCCI’s new rule of limiting family presence during team India’s overseas tours. Kohli, while advocating for the presence of families during matches, stated that he did not wish to ‘sit alone and sulk.’

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the world’s richest and most elite cricket board, issued a surprising directive, curtailing family time for players. It came after the Indian Men’s Test team suffered a humiliating 1-3 Border-Gavaskar trophy defeat in Australia. The new directive limited family presence by cutting it to just 14 days, in foreign tours exceeding 45 days of play.

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Moreover, the new rule also restricted players from staying with their families during overseas tours in the same hotel room. The wife, children or girlfriends of Indian cricket stars could only share a limited amount of time with them. Meanwhile, on short overseas ODI or T20I tours, the meeting time has further been limited to a week. It will restrict players from spending too much time with their families.

During the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy, several Indian cricket stars had their families in Dubai. Virat Kohli‘s wife and renowned Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma, and the couple’s two children, had also traveled to Dubai. However, the families of the players were not allowed to stay at the team hotel. They had to stay away, and the expenses, following BCCI’s new directive, were borne by the players themselves.

Despite the team later going on to win the Champions Trophy for the third time, it didn’t please the players. Virat Kohli, speaking at RCB’s Innovation Lab Summit, highlighted the role of families in helping a player keep well. Kohli emphasized that family support significantly accelerates recovery from setbacks on the field. He also pointed out the overall positive impact of family on a cricketer’s life.

The role of family is very difficult to explain to people… how grounding it is to just come back to your family every time you have something which is intense, which happens on the outside.

Virat Kohli on BCCI’s recent directive (H/T Telegraph)

Adding on, the 36-year-old batter, who has two children, aged one and four, expressed disappointment at the fact that he had to stay alone in his room after matches or training. He added that families allow a player to take up playing as a responsibility.

I don’t want to go to my room and just sit alone and sulk. I want to be able to be normal. Then you can really treat your game as something that is a responsibility.

Virat Kohli on BCCI’s recent directive

Nonetheless, Virat Kohli will be closer to his family for the next three months as he plays for RCB in the upcoming IPL season. However, it remains to be seen whether the BCCI continues to keep players away from their families, on India’s June-July-August tour to England.

Virat Kohli rejected RCB captaincy, says new teammate Jitesh Sharma

While rumors were rife that Virat Kohli could return as the captain of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, the team went ahead and announced Rajat Patidar as the new skipper. New RCB arrival Jitesh Sharma recently revealed that Kohli declined the captaincy offer.

Jitesh Sharma Virat Kohli RCB captaincy decline
RCB wicket-keeper Jitesh Sharma revealed reason behind Virat Kohli’s rejection of the team’s captaincy role (via CricXtacy)

Speaking on the CricXtcy podcast ahead of the new season, Jitesh Sharma admitted that Kohli did not wish to be the captain of the RCB. He added that the reason behind Kohli’s ejection was from the fact that he has been away from captaincy for the last four years. While confidently stating that Patidar was the best option, Sharma exclaimed that he only got to know about the new captain on social media.

I don’t know why he did not want to be captain. But he has not been captaining in the last 2-3 years, so it felt that he would not do it this year as well. So, I think Rajat was the best option.

Jitesh Sharma on Virat Kohli (H/T Hindustan Times)

Nonetheless, it will be Rajat Patidar’s first season as an IPL skipper, a position which will exert a lot of pressure upon him. He will replace Faf du Plessis, who led the team between 2022 and 2024. RCB boast a string squad this season, with several big names like Phil Salt, Liam Livingstone, Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.