Virat Kohli, India, Asia Cup 2018
Virat Kohli rested from India squad. (REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui)

Of late, numerous franchise tournaments came to the fore across the globe. Meanwhile, England came up with an all-new modification citing 100-ball format for each team.. However, the latest implementation didn’t serve well for Indian skipper Virat Kohli.

India’s batting mainstay Kohli mentioned the commercial aspect is taking over the real beauty of the game. He wants to play in the league-based tournaments as they present the considerable competition between the teams rather than the new experiments.

I don’t want to be a testing sort of a cricketer for any new format – Virat Kohli

The 29-year-old Kohli gave his thumbs down for the new format which England would like to come up in the near future. He doesn’t want to be part of the tournament as he wouldn’t want himself to be a testing cricketer for any experiment.

Virat Kohli, 100-ball
Virat Kohli is happy with franchise cricket. Image Courtesy: BCCI

The Indian run-machine added he would love to play Indian Premier League (IPL)  and watch Big Bash League (BBL). He feels that the league-based tournament has the required fight between the teams. But, he doesn’t want to be part of any experiments.

“Obviously for the people involved in the whole process and the set-up it will be really exciting but I cannot think of one more format, to be honest. I’m already very… I wouldn’t say frustrated, but sometimes it can get very demanding of you when you have to play so much cricket regularly. I feel somewhere the commercial aspect is taking over the real quality of cricket and that hurts me. Honestly, I don’t want to be a testing sort of a cricketer for any new format,” Kohli told Wisden Cricket Monthly.

 

”I don’t want to be someone who’s going to be part of that World XI who comes and launches the 100-ball format. I love playing the IPL, I love watching the BBL because you’re working towards something, competing against high-quality sides and it gets your competitive juices flowing. That’s what you want as a cricketer. I’m all for the leagues, but not to experiment,” Kohli said.

Virat Kohli, India
Virat Kohli bats for First-class cricket. Image Courtesy: Getty Images.

Virat Kohli warns cricket boards to respect first-class cricket:

Also, the skipper spoke his heart out on the domestic cricket. He feels that the boards are neglecting the first-class cricket which might be a dangerous thing in the future.

Kohli wants a player to be grown from first-class cricket but not in any easiest of the ways.

“If you’re not going to give more importance to first-class cricket, then people are going to lose motivation to play the longest format of the game, and with the T20 format coming in I think there’s far greater responsibility on all the cricket boards across the world to treat first-class cricket really well, because if the facilities and the standard goes up, then the motivation always stays. You don’t want players to get into that mindset where they’re finding the easy way out,he said.

However, it would be interesting to see whether any board considers the suggestion made by Kohli.

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Meanwhile, Virat Kohli is very clear that he couldn’t feature in experiment tournaments like the 100-ball format in England that are to be tested in the foreseeable future.

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