Virat Kohli Opens Up On The Prospect of Playing Cricket Behind Closed Doors

The proliferation of the global pandemic that is the coronavirus (COVID-19) has put the cricketing calendar to a screeching halt. And, while the game may well resume in the upcoming months, there is a great possibility that there will be no fans watching their favorite cricketers perform.

Fans are a heartbeat of any sporting event. The atmosphere and the buzz that they create through their sheer presence motivates a sportsman to push the envelope as far as their performance is concerned.

Indian captain Virat Kohli is certainly one of those sportsmen, who just love the presence of a packed house. We have seen on a plethora of occasions how Kohli interacts with the crowd during a match, urging them to get behind his team.

Kohli recently engaged in a chat session on Star Sports show ‘Cricket Connected’ where he talked at the length about the implications of playing behind closed doors.

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“Those emotions are very difficult to recreate,”- Virat Kohli on playing cricket without fans

The Indian captain reckoned that while the game will be played at a very good intensity, he doesn’t know how players will react to the prospect of playing in the absence of the fans.

“It’s quite a possible situation, it might happen, I honestly don’t know how everyone is going to take that because we all are used to playing in front of so many passionate fans. I know it will be played at a very good intensity but that feeling of the crowd connecting with the players and the tension of the game where everyone goes through it in the stadium, those emotions are very difficult to recreate,” Virat Kohli said.

“Things will still go on, but I doubt that one will feel that magic happening inside because of the atmosphere that was created.We will play sports how it is supposed to be played, but those magical moments will be difficult to come by,” Kohli added.

Recently, a lot of cricketers have given their opinions on cricket being played behind closed doors. While the likes of David Warner and Glenn Maxwell are strongly averse to the concept of playing in an empty stadium, Rohit Sharma recently said that he is open to the idea.

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