Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli has said that his team’s passion level will remain the same in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 without the crowd. Kohli, mostly, gets elevated with the support of spectators in the stadium, but the COVID-19 has forced the hosting of the league behind closed doors in the UAE.
Virat Kohli admitted that it would be a strange feeling of playing without the crowd during the 53 days long tournament. But he believes that having supporters in the stadium is not an important part of the sport.
The flamboyant batsman wants to take it as an opportunity to show everyone how much he loves the game even though there is an empty stadium.
“All of us have thought about playing in front of empty stadiums. It would be a strange feeling, I cannot deny that” Virat Kohli said during the virtual press conference.
“At the end of the day, you understand why you started playing the sport, you now have a chance of showing how much you love the game. Crowds are an amazing part of any sport but that is not something you play the sport for.”
Virat Kohli added that the IPL 2020 has given the chance to players to bring joy among people in testing times. So, the passion and intensity level will never drop.
“This time around we have an opportunity to bring joy to so many people, our intensity and passion levels will not drop just because there is no crowd,” he added.
We are more relaxed now: Virat Kohli
Talking about adapting to living in a bio-secure bubble, Virat Kohli said that the players have become more habitual of the environment. He added that they have accepted the current scenario and more relaxed.
“We discussed to be appreciative of things that are around you, we all know what we need to do.”
“We know what we can afford to do in this bio-secure bubble and we have become relaxed now as we have accepted the situation we are living in. There is no desperation of any sort and for me, that is the biggest learning from this pandemic till now,” he added.
Meanwhile, Royal Challengers Bangalore will play the first match of IPL 2020 against Sunrisers Hyderabad on 21 September.