'Want To Be Normal': Virat Kohli Against BCCI's Family Restriction Rule
After the Indian Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) implemented a new policy, restricting players’ families from joining them during Team India tours, star India batter Virat Kohli slammed the cricket authority, saying that having families around plays a big role in bringing balance during matches.
The former Team India captain pointed out that having the family by the players’ side also brings normalcy when the players face tough times, adding that he does not want to go to his room, sit alone and sulk.
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Speaking at the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) Innovation Lab Indian Sports Summit ahead of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, the player said that it is very difficult to explain to people how grounded it is to “just come back to your family every time you have something intense, which happens on the outside.”
Notably, after crowing the title in the Champions Trophy last week, the emotional Virat Kohli was seen hugging his wife who cheered for her husband from the stands during the match. The pictures of both went viral on social media. Indian captain Rohit Sharma’s wife Ritika Sajdeh and their daughter Samaira were also seen during the recent Champions Trophy event.
“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’,” sports news portal ESPNcricinfo quoted the player.
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BCCI recently introduced directives including mandatory team bus travel, limitations on family presence in dressing rooms and restriction of players’ family time on tours following India’s 3-1 drubbing to Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy away from home.
The cricket board ruled that players’ immediate families, their partners and children, can only join them for 14 days after the first two weeks of a tour of over 45 days. However, families can accompany players on shorter tours for up to a week.
Kohli, while defending his point about the importance of family presence, further stated that he does not want to go to his room and just sit alone and sulk. “If you ask any player, do you want your family to be around you all the time? “You’ll be like, yes,” Kohli said, adding that he wants to be able to be normal and then only the players can really treat their game as something that is a responsibility. “You finish that responsibility, and you come back to life,” the batter underscored.
In the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 semifinal against Australia, Kohli had registered the most fifty-plus scores, breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record.
