For the first time since 2013, Virat Kohli will turn up in the Indian Premier League (IPL) without the additional responsibility of captaincy.

Kohli had relinquished RCB’s leadership following the IPL 2021 season and the baton has now been passed to Faf du Plessis, who was roped in by the franchise for INR 7 crore at the mega-auction last month.

However, Virat, in a chat with RCB’s official website, said he “can still be a leader within the team and drive it forward towards success.”

“You can still be a leader within the team, drive the team forward towards success and winning trophies and titles, but I take a lot of pride in contributing for the team,” Kohli said.

“That for me is a very exciting space to be in because you are an individual who’s part of a team, whether you’re a captain or not, you’re still an individual who’s part of the team.”

The former RCB captain said he’s lucky enough to see the team’s transition under former South Africa skipper.

“A lot of people see transitions happen when they are away from the system. I’m lucky enough to see it happen in front of my eyes, while I’m still part of the larger picture.”

“You got to still look for ways to contribute to your environment, and I’m certainly in a space where I’m gonna help him with anything that I can,” he said.

Virat Kohli also opened up about playing without the burden of leadership responsibilities.

“It’s a wise thing for anyone to create some space for themselves, just take a deep breath and restructure things and say ‘Hold on, I might not have looked at a lot of things that I need to work on, and here’s a chance for me to restructure, rethink about what I want to do’.

“…and just find things to improve, find little bit at practice something that you look forward to. That is something I’ve experienced in this phase.”

Kohli further admitted that he’s enjoying coming to practice and focusing on his skills much more after relinquishing the captaincy.

“Not that you don’t focus on it, but somewhere when you have other responsibilities, that tends to kind of take a back seat, and over a period of time when you do it over and over again, and your mind is only running in one direction, then you can tend to lose that joy to come and practice.

“For me, that’s always been the essence of playing cricket and something that I’ve always wanted for it to be alive within me. And I certainly feel that joy of purely coming here and hitting the ball again.”

Asked if he feels younger and brighter not being the captain, Virat said, “When you take a decision like this, a lot of people go, ‘One should look at things from a point of responsibility and you have to take responsibility.’

“People don’t understand that if you as a player cannot be the best version of yourself on the field, then that responsibility for me personally as a player means nothing,” he said.

Kohli also termed Faf du Plessis as an able captain, before adding that he’s ready to help out the former Proteas skipper in whatever way he wants.

“I’ve been in touch with Faf for a long period of time now. We’ve actually connected and got along really well. He’s a very able captain, someone that I have a lot of respect for.

“As an opposition captain, I always admired the way he (Du Plessis) went about things and the in the way he got his team to rally around him. That I think is the most important thing for any skipper.”

“People have a sense of respect for him,” Kohli said of Du Plessis. “If he’s making plans or talking about stuff, people are saying, hold on, let’s really get into it, listen to it, and we got to make a plan around his vision, which I think is a great thing.”

(With PTI inputs)