Saying having family around gives “absolutely normalcy,” India’s batting hero Virat Kohli challenged the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) recently enforced rule restricting the time cricketers spend with their families on tours.
Following India’s 3-1 loss in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, the BCCI passed a new rule allowing players’ close families—partners and children—to join them after two weeks on tours stretching over 45 days but cannot stay for more than 14 days.
On shorter trips, however, the BCCI’s policy allows the families to go with the players for just one week.
Emphasising the advantages of emotional support in trying circumstances, Kohli expressed his support for letting players’ families travel with them during tours at the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) Innovation Lab Indian Sports Summit ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
“It is highly 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,” he said.
Following a subpar performance on a tour, no player would want to “sit alone and sulk,” Virat Kohli stated.
“I want to be able to live normally. You can then actually regard your game as a duty. You return to life after finishing your obligation,” he remarked.
“Like, your life could be constantly surrounded with several events. And it enables you to be quite normal. Not in a broad sense, but in a very concrete way that you accomplish your commitment, your responsibility, and then you return back to your house, you are with family and there is totally normalcy in your house and regular family life proceeds.
