Don't get nervous, I'm not making any announcements: Kohli rubbishes retirement rumours
Bengaluru, Mar 15 (PTI): Champion batter Virat Kohli on Saturday emphatically said he is not mulling retirement at the moment as he has been enjoying the game, and the "competitive streak" inside him is very much intact.
Kohli displayed the old spark while playing an important hand in India's recent Champions Trophy victory in Dubai, after which skipper Rohit Sharma too dismissed the retirement talks surrounding him.
"Don't get nervous. I'm not making any announcements. As of now everything is fine. I still love playing the game," Kohli said during a talk session at the RCB Innovation Lab.
Kohli said he no longer aspires to achieve milestones, but he is playing cricket for the "pure joy" of it.
"It's pretty much come down to just the pure joy, enjoyment, competitive streak, and love for the game. And as long as that is there I will continue to play. As I said today I am not playing for any achievement," he said.
Kohli said that innate "competitive streak" makes it tougher for a sportsperson to find the right time to move away from the game.
"You know the competitive streak doesn't allow you to find the answer (for the retirement question). I had a very interesting conversation about this with Rahul Dravid. He said you always have to stay in touch with yourself.
"Figure out where you are placed in your life and the answer is not that easy. You might be going through a lean phase and you feel like this is it. But it might not be. But then when it is time my competitive streak would not allow me to accept it. Maybe one more month.
"Maybe six more months. So I think it's a fine balance. At this point of time in my life I feel pretty happy," he explained.
But Kohli admitted that the advancing age has made the whole process of staying at the top of his game a bit more tough.
"I want to be able to have all my energy in place. Now, it takes much more effort as people who have played the game for a long period of time understand. You can't do so many things in your mid to late 30s that you can in your mid 20s. I'm at a bit of a different place in my life as well.
"I think for me it's a natural progression. I'm sure all these young guys will hopefully get to that place. But now, the energy that's coming out of me feels very peaceful and calm," he said.
The 36-year-old said he has adjusted mentally to the batting failures, which have become an increasingly regular part of his game in the last few years.
Kohli cited his ordinary run against Australia in an away series as a case in point, as he went downhill after making a hundred in the first Test at Perth.
"If you ask me the intensity of how disappointed I've been... for me the most recent Australia tour would be the one that's most fresh. So, it might feel the most intense to me. But I can't look at it that way. I might not have an Australia tour again in me in four years' time.
"I don't have the chance to correct it. So you have to make peace with whatever's happened in your life. Like in 2014 (against England) I still had the chance to go in 2018 and do what I did. It might not have been the case."
Kohli said the key to keep away from pressure will be to shut himself out of the outside noises.
"Once you start thinking of the disappointment from the outside, then you start burdening yourself way more. That's something that I've surely experienced in Australia as well. Because I got a good score in the first Test. I thought, right, let's go.
"There's going to be another big series for me. It didn't turn out that way. How do you cope up with this? For me, it's just about acceptance. This is what happened. I'm going to be honest with myself," he noted.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
NEET student hangs self in Rajasthan's Sikar
Jaipur (PTI): A student preparing for the NEET examination allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in a rented room in Rajasthan's Sikar on Friday, police said.
According to the police, the student allegedly hanged himself from a ceiling fan using his sister's scarf while one sister was attending coaching classes and the other was in the bathroom.
He had appeared in the NEET UG exam 2026, which was cancelled due to paper leak, they said.
Udyog Nagar SHO Rajesh Kumar said that the deceased, identified as Pradeep Meghwal, was a resident of Kanika ki Dhani village in Jhunjhunu's Gudha Gaudji area.
He had been living in a rented room in Sikar's Jaldhari Nagar area with his two sisters while preparing for NEET over the last three years.
His elder sister later found him hanging and informed the landlord and police after bringing him down, officials said.
The SHO said the body was kept at SK Hospital mortuary, and a postmortem had not been conducted.
The student's father, Rajesh Kumar Meghwal, told police that Pradeep's NEET examination had gone well and the family was expecting him to score around 650 marks.
Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot expressed grief over the incident and linked it to anxiety among students after reports of irregularities and paper leaks in NEET 2026.
Pilot said repeated paper leak incidents and cancellation of examinations were affecting students' mental health and demanded a time-bound investigation and strict action against those responsible.
