Won't Deny The Fact That It's Going To Be Difficult Initially, Says Kohli On Playing In Empty Stands

Click Here To Promote Anything On The Above Place

The Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli has accepted the fact that it won't be easy for the players to play without the crowd in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League which is scheduled to start on September 19 in the UAE.

The RCB captain did acknowledge that the cricket field would be a significantly 'stranger' place from the last time he was on it. However, Kohli suggests that the crowd factor will diminish as the tournament will progress.



"I won't deny the fact that it's going to be difficult initially," Virat told The Bold Diaries on the RCB channel. "It is going to be strange. Just the echo of the ball hitting the bat. I haven't experienced that since playing Ranji Trophy cricket back in 2010. It is the last time I experienced it, so for 10 years, I haven't had a game where I'm not hearing the crowd.

"We have done this at some stage in our lives. It's important to remember that rather than saying 'But oh I'm used to this now and I won't do it if there's no crowd'. We have done it in the past, even in those games we played, you wanted to perform and play for the love of the game. The crowd factor will play a part but once you get into the game, the instincts will kick in and the crowd factor will diminish pretty quickly."

It is not only playing in the empty stands but players also might take some time to get back into the rhythm as many of them haven't played cricket for some time, especially Indian players. However, Kohli who last played competitively six months ago at Christchurch Test against New Zealand has confessed that the COVID-enforced break from cricket was most opportune and that he didn't miss the game as much as he thought he might.



"Things were okay. I didn't miss the game as much as I thought I might. Maybe because I'd been going on for 9-10 years before that and this was the only break I was ever going to get that long. It was a revelation for me as well. It was surprising that my focus was not solely on how I'm missing the game all the time and you know just carrying on with life, doing other things, and understanding that this is just a part of life", he said.

"Couple of months [ago] you couldn't imagine you'd have IPL firstly. Then things started opening up and things started getting together and then we saw other tournaments taking place. So got a bit of confidence from that. Now when we had our practice session yesterday is the time I realized how long it has been. When I was heading to the practice session, I felt nervous, I felt a bit jittery ..."

Stay tuned...