Former Indian cricketer Amit Mishra has detailed how support from Indian Premier League franchises for players has almost made the teams 'family' for players.
Mishra represented Delhi Capitals (previously Delhi Daredevils) in 10 out of 16 IPL seasons he featured in, while also featuring for Deccan Chargers and Lucknow Super Giants.
Mishra provided Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma's example and how Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Mumbai Indians have backed the two, respectively, through thick and thin, for further explaining his point. Kohli has been retained by RCB right from the outset. He also noted how it was completely natural for the ace batter to break down after winning the IPL with RCB in the 2025 season.
"RCB have supported Virat from the start. They've never left him. Rohit's been with Mumbai for such a long time and has won them many titles. It's seen in him even after not being the captain, that it's his time and his home. Even with Virat, it was like that. From the start, he's been there, even captained and did everything he could," Mishra told MensXP.
"It becomes like a family. When things like that happen (RCB winning), those emotions come out. It is good as well. When a team has supported you so much, if you win for them and show those emotions, it is a very good thing," Mishra, who has a record of three hat-tricks in the IPL, added.
Kohli ended up as the leading run-getter for RCB in their title-winning campaign, aggregating his 15 innings for 657 runs at a strike rate of 144.71. The New Delhi-born, who is also the highest run-getter in the league, played a vital role for the franchise in what was their first title-winning campaign in the marquee T20 league.
Speaking of Rohit, he has won five titles for the Mumbai-based franchise as captain. The joint-most successful franchise won the IPL in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020. With this, he currently stands as the most successful captain in IPL history, alongside former Indian skipper MS Dhoni, who has won as many IPL titles with the Chennai Super Kings.
There will understandably be a lot of eyeballs fixated on Kohli and Rohit as the 19th instalment of the cash-rich league draws closer. Both Kohli and Rohit, who are currently only playing ODIs in international cricket, are the leading run-getters of RCB and MI in T20s, respectively.
