Former Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper Virat Kohli opens up on getting irritated by the famous ‘Champak’ robot, and revealed that he cannot have a conversation with anyone without it becoming news. The talismanic batter, who is a key part of the squad that won their first IPL trophy last season, appeared on a podcast with renowned Indian sports presenter Mayanti Langer and talked about multiple subjects. One of them was his irritation towards the ‘Champak’ robot that was introduced during the recent IPL seasons by the BCCI to capture on-field moments and entertain fans.
The former RCB skipper recalled an instance where Champak interrupted a private conversation he was having with Kane Williamson. He urged the officials to streamline filming to protect the privacy of players and seek their consent before filming them. Kohli told Langer, “Is the player okay with being filmed at all times, I think those kinds of things really need to be taken into account. This is my honest assessment because it gets too much.”
He went on to reveal, “I was talking to Kane (Williamson) the other day, and that robot thing was waving at me. And I was like why is this guy doing this (signals waving) at me.” He added, “So, I looked at him and I ignored him and I told the guy like, ‘Man, please take him away.’” Kohli added, “I can’t have a conversation with him without it being a topic of ‘Kane Mama and King Kohli’. Let me talk to him. Anything, even in the dressing room becomes a piece of information these days.”
I have nothing to complain about: Virat Kohli on ending RCB’s 18-year-long trophy drought
The legendary batter also opened up on ending the team’s IPL trophy drought and said that he feels grateful for everyday in his life and has nothing to complain about. "I felt very thankful, and I feel grateful every day of my life, to be honest. I have nothing to complain about. But that night, especially, and I still say it's very difficult to explain to people in words how I felt in the last four balls of the last over.”
"I can with absolute honesty and clarity say that it wouldn't have been five per cent of the feeling I had, had we won it in the earlier years. And the accumulation of all that stress and all that pressure. And for it to happen after 18 years, there couldn't have been a better experience for me in my cricketing journey, apart from all the other things that I've experienced playing for India as well. This was very, very special," the batter said.
Kohli has been the face of the franchise for nearly two decades and is their highest run scorer with 9,145 runs, including nine IPL centuries.
