Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s star batter Virat Kohli likes to stay away from social media. However, the IPL provides a contrasting environment for the players. Apart from the cameras during matches, the franchises also actively shoot almost everything from the players’ progress to the important moments as well during training. Kohli, in a recent podcast, opened up on this aspect.
“You walk to practice, and you have six cameras following you. It’s not a comfortable feeling at all. As a sports person, you need the ability and the freedom to work on your game in peace. If everything you do is an opportunity to film or display or to dissect, then you are not being organic,” Kohli said on the RCB Podcast.
“I’m not going to be able to try to do things at practice which I really want to do because I know tomorrow if someone films it and there are discussions on my practice sessions. You judge me on my performances during the game, not during the leadup. No one has the right to judge me on what I’m doing in terms of my preparation, the things I’m trying in the nets,” he further added.
Speaking further, Kohli also said that there has to be a boundary on the filming that takes place as well.
“I just feel like there has to be a bit more streamlining in terms of understanding how much to do, when to do, is the player okay with being filmed at all times. Those kinds of things really need to be taken into account because it gets too much. I love the pressure of the game, but I honestly don’t love the pressure of anything else. Like social media is a huge part of the commercial representation or the fan engagement for any team, which is understandable,” Kohli said.
“But I genuinely feel like there has to be a bit more streamlining, because if you look at the growth of the official fan clubs or the official fan pages of teams, it has taken place after a long period of time when the IPL was already in play. So it’s not a thing that people were ready for from day one,” he concluded.
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