Virat Kohli is currently playing IPL 2026 for RCB, who have qualified for the playoffs.
Virat Kohli, former India and RCB captain, has stated that he doesn’t believe in workload management. He also advised young cricketers to begin managing themselves early in their careers to achieve prime fitness and realize their full potential.
Players are increasingly prioritizing certain tournaments and formats to guarantee that their bodies can survive the demands of constant competition while avoiding possibly career-ending injuries.
Top players taking sabbaticals from international cricket, which was once regarded as rare, are now largely accepted as a need. Teams, too, desire to keep their first-choice players fresh, fit, and available for important tournaments and Test tours.
Virat Kohli, India's batting sensation, believes that workload control should not be used in the early stages of a player's career.
“I don’t believe in managing workload while you’re in the thick of things and your careers are growing. You have to understand your maximum limit first. And then from there, you understand the balance on how much you can do or when you need to start tapering it down. But you can’t start managing early in your career; you’ll never reach your full potential otherwise. That’s the way I operate,” Kohli said at an RCB event.
Kohli also mentioned how the financial benefits and instant fame of playing T20 cricket have become important motivators for modern players.
“It’s the drive. A lot of people relate drive to money nowadays. Yes, it’s a big factor because when a format gives you the hype and the recognition, the fame by scoring 40-50 off 20 balls, and the kind of money that people can make in the IPL today, it can put you in a very comfortable space and make you say, you know what? This is brilliant. I don’t need to handle pressure for too long. I can just go out there and smash the ball,” he added.
Kohli feels that pursuing longevity and establishing respect in the cricketing world, a far more difficult road, can be an equally potent drive, one that has defined his own career.
“Or you can say, 'I want to play for 15-20 years. I want to get recognition and respect from the cricketing world and my own heroes, and I want to fulfill this opportunity. That’s a very different zone. You have to be very driven to be able to say, "I'm going to commit to this for the next 10-15 years, and it’s going to be very, very hard, but I’m up for it," he said.
Virat Kohli is currently playing IPL 2026 for RCB, who have qualified for the playoffs.