IPL 2023: ‘Fortunate to have played for one franchise from day one’ – Virat Kohli on his journey with RCB

Virat Kohli remains the face of the Royal Challengers Bangalore. In IPL history, Kohli is the only player to have played for a single franchise. He was part of the RCB camp in the inaugural edition, in 2008, after his heroics with the U-19 team. Since then, he has remained loyal to the franchise and represented them with several memorable performances over the years.

In a recent chat, Kohli stated that he feels fortunate to have been playing for one franchise from day one of the cash-rich league. “I feel really fortunate to have played for one franchise from day one,” Kohli told RCB. He further asserted, “It’s been a constant relationship based on trust from both ends that we are working for the same thing and the value that I have seen fans connecting with me very organically is because of the fact that we play the game for the right reasons.”

Kohli added, “I am really honoured and fortunate to be here for so long, in a place where I absolutely love coming to every year and start the IPL journey all over again. So, it’s always very exciting.” RCB have not won the IPL title yet but the superstar cricketer’s loyalty remains as it was.

Kohli has often been vocal about always representing RCB till the time he plays the IPL. The 34-year-old led the franchise from 2012-2011 and took them to the final in IPL 2016. He has scored over 7,000 runs in the tournament history — the only player to do so — and remains desperate to win RCB their inaugural title. 

At present, Kohli-starrer RCB, who are led by Faf du Plessis, occupy the sixth spot in the points table with ten points from 11 games.