Over the years, the Indian Premier League (IPL) has expanded its digital footprint, with franchise media teams, official fan centers and broadcast innovations now providing extensive behind-the-scenes coverage of the tournament. While this increased fan engagement remains a cornerstone of the league’s commercial growth, it prompted a rare and candid reflection by the sport’s towering figure, Virat Kohli, on the professional boundaries of elite athletes.
For nearly two decades, Kohli has been India’s leading paparazzi magnet. His high-profile marriage to Bollywood star Anushka Sharma created a whirlwind of public fascination, turning casual airport jaunts, private dinners and vacations into national news events. As thousands routinely flocked to public spaces just to catch a glimpse of him, he eventually turned his life around—spending a substantial part of the year living quietly in Londonreturning to India mainly for high cricket commitments, corporate assignments and private spiritual visits.
However, while Kohli has successfully managed external control outside the stadium, he has lifted the veil on the enormous friction now arising inside the boundary ropes due to the invasive nature of modern franchise content culture.
“I love the pressure of the game. I honestly don’t love the pressure of anything other than that,” Kohli said on the latest episode of the RCB Podcast hosted by Mayanti Langer.
“Just like social media, it’s a huge part of commercial representation or fan engagement for any team, which is understandable. But honestly, hand on heart, I really feel it needs to be simplified a bit more. If you look at the growth of official fan clubs or official fan pages of teams, it’s been a long time since the IPL has been in the game. So it’s not overnight that people are ready.”
The modern broadcast framework relies heavily on 24/7 access to digital platforms. Kohli argues that this constant demand for shots can threaten the organic environment needed to prepare for the elite competition.
“Suddenly you go to training and you have six cameras behind you, it’s not a nice feeling at all,” Kohli said.
“As an athlete, you need to have the ability and freedom to work on your game in peace. If all you do is an opportunity to be filmed, imaged or dissected, then you’re not organic. I’m not going to be able to try to do things in training that I really want to do, because I know that tomorrow if someone films it, there will be discussions about my training sessions. Which of course there will be, but I think that of course I will be at my performances.” during the game, no one has the right to judge me for what I do, in terms of my preparation, the things I try in the nets.”
Kohli expressed the urgent need for administrators and digital teams to create clear lines that take into account the psychological comfort of the player during their preparation cycles.
“So I just feel like it needs to be simplified a little bit in terms of understanding how much to do, when to do it, whether a player is OK with being filmed all the time. I think those things really need to be taken into account because this is my honest assessment, it’s too much,” he said.
WHEN CHAMPAK TABULED KOHLI
Deprivation of personal space is no longer limited to training nets; it increasingly bleeds into basic human interactions between long-standing peers. Kohli shared a specific example involving New Zealand veteran Kane Williamson and ‘Champak’ – an AI-controlled robotic dog that was introduced as a promotional tool on the field during the broadcast.
“I was talking to Kane the other day. Then there’s this robotic thing that he does (means dog-waving gesture). I’m like ‘why is this guy doing that?’. I was talking to Kane about something that was serious. He’s my friend. I looked at him and I ignored him (Champak) and I told the guy (he’s running it) and I ‘can’ take him away in peace. talking to him without it being filmed, without it becoming a ‘Kane mom meets Virat Kohli’ moment. I’ve known him since I was 19, I need space to talk to him freely.”
For a global icon whose career has been defined by intense public ownership, the line between professional entertainment duties and personal sanity is becoming increasingly blurred.
“From the dressing room to the field, when I talk to someone, it becomes news,” Kohli concluded. “I think it’s a bit much.
For now, Kohli’s primary focus remains firmly in the white lines of the pitch, where his batting continues to speak loudest. Brushing aside a rare flash of back-to-back ducks, the veteran maestro returned to top form this week with a record ninth IPL century against Kolkata Knight Riders to catapult Royal Challengers Bengaluru to the top of the points table.
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Issued by:
Akshay Ramesh
Published on:
16 May 2026 12:53 IST
