A broadcast show should not talk about what I ate yesterday for lunch or my favorite chole-bhature place in Delhi: Virat Kohli

Senior Team India batter Virat Kohli took an indirect dig at sports broadcasters in India. The former India captain urged them to focus on covering sports and athlete-related issues instead of discussing trivial matters like a player's favorite food joint.

Kohli is one of the most popular cricketers in India among the current generation. Apart from his batting exploits and failures, his personal live and preferences off the field also get discussed in detail as part of broadcast media's cricket coverage.

During an interaction on Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Innovation Lab Indian Sports Summit, powered by Leaders, Kohli opined that India is working towards becoming a sports-forward nation. He elaborated (as quoted by Sportstar):

"We have the vision. We have the groundwork happening today. It should be a collective responsibility of everyone involved. It’s not just about the infrastructure or the people who infuse the money. It’s also about the people who watch.

"We need education. A broadcast show needs to talk about the game and not what I ate yesterday for lunch or my favorite chole-bhature place in Delhi. You can’t have that in cricket matches. Rather, you could talk about what an athlete is going through,” the 36-year-old went on to add.

Kohli will next be seen in action during IPL 2025, representing Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). The franchise will feature in the tournament opener against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on March 22.

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"Very difficult to explain to people how grounding it is to come back to your family" - Virat Kohli

In the wake of India's 4-1 loss in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, some reports in the media claimed that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was planning to not allow family members to travel with cricketers for an entire tour. Reports claimed that for a series of more than 45 days, wife or family members could stay with a player for only for two weeks.

While there have been mixed reactions to the reports, Kohli emphasized on the huge significance of family support for a sportsperson. He commented:

“It is very difficult to explain to people how grounding it is to come back to your family every time you have something intense happening on the outside. I don’t think people have an understanding of what value it brings. I feel quite disappointed about that. People who have no control over what is going on are kind of brought into conversations and put out in the forefront. Maybe they need to be kept away."

Kohli was recently part of the Indian team that won the 2025 Champions Trophy. He contributed 218 runs in five innings at an average of 54.50 and a strike rate of 82.89.