Every youngster has a dream of sharing a dressing room with Virat Kohli; some players' dreams come true, whereas some do not. Recently, Swastik Chikara had the rare experience of sharing a dressing room with India's legendary player Virat Kohli in the RCB in IPL 2025.
Recently, the 20-year-old RCB player shared about the discussions he had with the legendary batter and also revealed the details of Virat Kohli's exit from IPL and future plans. The right-handed batter in an interview said that Kohli told him as long as he is fit and meets the demands of the team and the format, he will continue to play.
Chikara said,
"Virat bhaia said, 'Jab tak cricket khelunga, jab tak main poora fit hoon. Ye impact player ki tarah nahi khelunga. Main sher ki tarah khelunga (I will play cricket for as long as I am completely fit). I won't play as an Impact player. I will play like a lion."
"I will field for the full 20 overs and then bat. The day I have to play as an impact player, I will quit cricket."
The 36-year-old player has already retired from T20I and Test cricket and will be turning 37 during the next edition of IPL. In an IPL 2025, he won the maiden title, where he was quite dominant, scoring 657 runs in 15 matches and being the highest run scorer for his team.
In the IPL 2025 final against Punjab Kings, Virat scored 43 runs off 35 balls, defeating Shreyas Iyer's team to clinch the maiden title in Ahmedabad.
It is to be noted that he hasn't retired from IPL yet and has shown keen interest in playing the ODI World Cup 2027, for which he has already started practicing hard in the gym and nets. Whereas the management is not considering him and the ODI skipper Rohit Sharma, as they want to focus on the future.