Virat Kohli demands family's presence on tours: "No player wants to sit alone and sulk"

After the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) introduced directives restricting players' family time on tours, batter Virat Kohli advocated for the presence of families during tours. He said that no player would like to "sit alone and sulk" after a poor showing during a tour.

Kohli said that family brings a balance and normalcy, especially when players face tough times, reported ESPNCricinfo.

The BCCI directive came following India's 3-1 drubbing to Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy away from home. It ruled that player's immediate families, their partners and children, can only join them for 14 days after first two weeks of a tour of over 45 days. On shorter tours, players can be accompanied by their families for up to a week.

Speaking at the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) Innovation Lab Indian Sports Summit ahead of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, Virat said as quoted by ESPNCricinfo, "It is very difficult to explain to people how grounding it is to just come back to your family every time you have something intense, which happens on the outside."

"I do not think people have an understanding of what value it brings to a large extent. And I feel quite disappointed about that because it is like people who have no control over what is going on are kind of brought into conversations and put out at the forefront that, 'oh, maybe they need to be kept away," he added.

"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 you come back to life," he said.

"Like, there could be different situations happening in your life all the time. And that allows you to be absolutely normal. Not in a vague sense, but in a very real way that you finish your commitment, your responsibility, and then you come back to your house, you are with family, and there's absolutely normalcy in your house and normal family life goes on. So, for me, that is absolutely a day of immense pleasure. And I would not miss any opportunities to go out and spend time with my family whenever I can," he concluded.

Notably, Virat was the part of India's ICC Champions Trophy winning team recently, emerging as the team's second-highest run-getter and overall fifth, with 218 runs in five matches at an average of 54.50. His standout knocks included a 100* against arch-rivals Pakistan while chasing 242 and a 98-ball 84 against Australia in the semifinals during a tough run-chase of 265 runs.