New Delhi: Ace Indian cricketer Virat Kohli has expressed his displeasure with the decision of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to disallow families from staying with the players beyond 14 days during long tours.
“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,” Kohli is quoted by ESPNcricinfo as saying.
The batter, who became the fastest in the world to reach 14,000 runs in ODIs during the recent Champions Trophy – that Team India won – was also quoted as saying: “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 whats going on are kind of brought into conversations and put out at the forefront that ‘Oh, maybe they need to be kept away.”
Kohli’s wife and actor Anushka Sharma was present at the stadium in Dubai during the Champions Trophy final between India and New Zealand. So was Team India skipper Rohit Sharma’s wife Ritika Sajdeh and daughter Samaira. They were cheering from the stands though and came down to be with their husbands after Team India lifted the trophy for the third time.
“If you ask any player, do you want your family to be around you all the time? You will be like, yes. I don’t want to go back 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 come back to life,” Kohli added.
The BCCI ruling came after Team India lost the Test series against Australia (in Australia) 1-3. The Board then ruled that families could join the players only during tours lasting over 45 days, that too only for 14 days after the first two weeks.