"Don't want to go to my room and just sit alone and sulk" - Virat Kohli bats for families' presence on tours after BCCI's directive

Team India's star batter Virat Kohli hasn't agreed with the BCCI's directive of allowing the players to only spend a limited time with their families, especially during the away series. The right-handed batter said he doesn't wish to sulk in his hotel room alone in case of a tough day on the field and that some normalcy is required.

Following Team India's poor performance in the recent Test series in Australia that culminated in a 3-1 loss, the board limited the amount of time the players spend with their families on tours. It stated that their immediate families can join them only after the first couple of weeks on a tour of more than 45 days and can stay no more than 14 days.

Speaking during the RCB Innovational Lab Indian Sports Summit ahead of IPL 2025, Kohli said having their respective families means players can treat the game as a responsibility and come back to have some normalcy.

"If you ask any player, do you want your family to be around you all the time? You'll be like, yes. I don't want to go to my room and just sit alone and sulk. I want to be able to be normal. And then you can really treat your game as something that is a responsibility. You finish that responsibility, and you come back to life. Like, there could be different situations happening in your life all the time. And that allows you to be absolutely normal."

"Not in a vague sense, but in a very real way that you finish your commitment, your responsibility, and then you come back to your house, you're with family, and there's absolutely normalcy in your house and normal family life goes on."

Like most Indian batters, the 36-year-old endured a tough time against Australia Down Under, aggregating only 190 runs in the five-Test series. The series defeat had also rendered Rohit Sharma's future in Test cricket doubtful.

"It's very difficult to explain to people how grounding it is to just come back to your family" - Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli. (Image Credits: Getty)

Kohli said it's disappointing for people to comment on what should be allowed and shouldn't be despite not knowing what players deal with while playing the game. He added:

"It's 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. I don't think people have an understanding of what value it brings to a large extent. And I feel quite disappointed about that because it's like people who have no control over what's going on are kind of brought into conversations and put out at the forefront that, 'oh, maybe they need to be kept away.''"

The former Indian captain is gearing up for IPL 2025 and will be in action for RCB on March 22 when they face the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).