Virat Kohli talks about the time when another IPL franchise approached to play for them

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Virat Kohli are practically interchangeable. The 34-year-old India legend is the only player in tournament history to have played for the exact same club since it was founded in 2008. Kohli also served as the franchise’s captain for nine seasons between 2013 and 2021; and even though he was unable to win the trophy with the team while serving as skipper, he delivered numerous incredible batting performances for the team.

Kohli has frequently said that RCB is going to be his only team in the league, however the leading batsman has now admitted that he had in fact spoken to another team during the very first years of the competition in search of a top-order spot. For the RCB’s first three campaigns, Kohli primarily batted at No. 5 or No. 6 in the order. However, Kohli was not allowed to be selected by the team.

Curiously, the aforementioned team later came back to Kohli before the retention in 2011, but Kohli, who was already a vital part of the Indian side at the time, decided to continue with RCB who “backed him a lot.”

Virat Kohli spoke in an interview with Robin Uthappa about a franchise contacting him in his early years. He said, “That is of more value for me. I won’t take names but another franchise who I spoke to at the time… they were not even keen enough to listen to me. I was playing lower down the order at the time (5-6). I was like, ‘if I could get the opportunity to bat in the top of the order somewhere else…’ The same franchise, because I had played for India and performed in 2011, before the retention, came to me and said, ‘can you please come to the auction?’ I said, ‘no chance. I will always be with the franchise that backs me.”

Virat Kohli then spoke about his special relationship with RCB and why he is still with them. He said,”It’s been amazing. Why I value this partnership and journey with RCB so much, is because in the first 3 years of the IPL, they backed me a lot. Even when the retentions happened, they said, ‘we want to retain you’. My only feedback to Ray Jennings at the time was ‘I want to bat in top-order. I bat at 3 for India, and I want to bat at 3’. And they said, ‘okay, you will bat at 3’. They showed faith in me at the time when I needed it. I was growing in my international career as well.”