‘Went absolutely crazy’: Virat Kohli reveals his reaction after RCB signed him in IPL 2008 auction

Former Indian skipper Virat Kohli has revealed that Delhi Daredevils were very close to signing him in the inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL) auction in 2008. Kohli also opened up on his reaction, when Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) won the race for his signature. 

On Tuesday, Virat spoke to ‘The RCB Podcast’, wherein he lifted the lid on his reaction after teams battled it out to land Virat Kohli ahead of the first season of IPL. The 33-year-old revealed that he was in Malaysia at the time, alongside his U-19 teammates for the U-19 World Cup. 

Recalling how he and his teammates were following the IPL draft at the time, Kohli said, “We were in Malaysia for the U-19 World Cup and the drafts were happening. The U-19 dynamic was a little different because we very rightly so had a money cap. That was the only time when I saw a restriction on how much you could be picked for if you haven’t played for India, of course. Even that moment for us was very amazing, I remember. The amount that we got picked for when they revealed it, we were like, we couldn’t believe it. We went absolutely crazy.”

The Delhi-born batsman also revealed that he had heard people talking that the Delhi franchise were also very interested in him, but ultimately they opted to sign Pradeep Sangwan while he joined RCB for 50,000 US$.

Virat also added that he later realized that the decision proved to be one of the most ‘impactful moment’ of his life, in hindsight. 

“There was one conversation from people that Delhi team is interested to go after me but then the dynamic of their squad turned out to be so that they picked Pradeep Sangwan, who was a left-arm seamer, at that time he was our best bowler in the U19 team,” he recalled.

“So Delhi decided to go with him because they wanted to strengthen their bowling and then RCB picked me which in hindsight I feel was such an impactful moment in my life which I didn’t realise at that time but now when I look back things would have been very different from what they are now and I would not have it any other way than this,” stated Virat Kohli. 

In 2013, he was handed the captaincy by RCB, and despite leading them in 140 games, Kohli couldn’t get his hands on the elusive IPL trophy. He will certainly be hoping for better fortunes this time around, as RCB have retained Kohli, alongside Glenn Maxwell and Mohammed Siraj as their draft picks ahead of the upcoming 2022 IPL mega auction.