Don't Miss

India's CWG 2026 Medal Tally Lowest In 24 Years, Yet Among The Best

Tactical Self-Destruction: How England Threw Away Their World Cup Final Dream

Bundesliga Blueprint: How Zee Plans To Complete India's Football Jigsaw

Manuel Neuer Doesn't Know Where To Stop: Not On The Pitch, Not In His Career

Advertisement

ENG

Dark / Light mode

Oct 9,2026 01:29 PM IST

"When Time Is Up...": Ex-RCB Captain On Virat Kohli's 'Personal' Motivation Amid Struggle For Form

facebook

twitter

WhatsApp

Settings

Select Language

Dark / Light mode

Search

Cricket

arrow-down reddit snapchat twitter facebook comments email printer search bell top-nav reddit-fill snapchat-fill twitter-fill facebook-fill share whatsapp-fill bookmark arrow-rgt arrow-next arrow-up refresh close link cog star book zap cricket football tennis formula-1 badminton hockey golf boxing ndtv-n check left-arrow right-arrow

Live Cricket Matches

India Matches

IPL 2026

Football Matches

ISL

EPL

All Matches

India Matches

EPL

Sports Home Cricket News When Time Is Up ExRCB Captain On Virat Kohlis Personal Motivation Amid Struggle For Form

Related Articles

Story ProgressBack to home

"When Time Is Up...": Ex-RCB Captain On Virat Kohli's 'Personal' Motivation Amid Struggle For Form

Faf du Plessis gave his thoughts on how Virat Kohli can return to form.

Read Time: 3 min

facebook

twitter

WhatsApp

reddit

E-mail

File image of Virat Kohli.© AFP

Virat Kohli will be “super motivated” to put a struggling phase behind him and the premier India batter is capable of returning to his run-making ways, said former South African captain Faf du Plessis here on Wednesday. Kohli had a torrid time in Australia during the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy, amassing a mere 190 runs at an average of 23.75 across five Tests despite starting off with an unbeaten hundred in the first Test at Perth.

Du Plessis backed Kohli, his one-time teammate at Royal Challengers Bangalore, to come back stronger from the struggles, and said retirement is a “very personal” choice.

“That is very, very personal. No one can speak to you about when that time is (up) as a player, you'll know,” du Plessis told PTI on the sidelines of the SA20 Season 3's Captain's Day.

“I know someone like him is super super motivated, he's gone through it all before, so he knows exactly what to do,” said Du Plessis.

The 40-year-old then went back to the day when he felt his time was up as a Test cricketer.

“It is different for every player. Every player needs to answer that question. I remember when that time was for me,” he said.

“I just knew that certainly from the Test cricket perspective for me. I didn't have that same hunger and drive anymore and I felt that that stage certainly for me was a good time to let new guys come in and also step into the T20 world.

“I wanted to do that at the stage where I still felt like I was on top of my game,” he added.

Du Plessis was not pleased with ICC reportedly exploring the possibility of a two-tier Test system.

“No, I think we need the game to be healthy,” Du Plessis said.

“We saw over the last few years the value that was put on Test cricket by Australia, England and India making sure that there were 4-5 Test series.

“When you look at the other teams, there are two Test matches here and there and playing six Test matches a season. I do not think that is healthy for the game,” he offered.

“As long as we can look at Test cricket as (being) important, you just look at all the Test matches that took place over the last few weeks, some incredible matches have been played,” Du Plessis noted.

“SA deserve to raise WTC trophy”

South Africa spinner Keshav Maharaj rated the consistency of his side in Test cricket “phenomenal” and said they deserve to “raise a prestigious title.” The Proteas will face Australia in the final of the World Test Championship in June at the Lord's.

South Africa advanced to the title clash of the 2023-25 cycle with a 2-0 win over Pakistan at home, while India's string of losses against New Zealand at home and against Australia ended their hopes of a third consecutive WTC final appearance.

“If you look at our Test unit, not many people would have afforded us the opportunity of making the final, but we've been phenomenal from a consistency point of view, from a cricket perspective,” Maharaj told PTI.

“The togetherness on the field and the camaraderie and spirit (that) you see within the dressing room propelled us to get there.

“Hopefully, this is our year and we go one better than we've done previously and raise a very prestigious title in the Test format,” he said.

Maharaj, however, conceded that defending champions Australia are a formidable opponent.

“It's the hardest format of the game. It's most challenging physically, mentally and emotionally. As a unit, the (kind of) cricket (that) we have played, we deserve to go and raise a trophy.

“But we are against formidable opponents, hopefully, we will come up on the right side of things,” he said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Featured Video Of The Day

Neeraj Chopra Wins Silver, Yashvir Singh Bronze As India Seal Double Podium In CWG Javelin

Topics mentioned in this article

Francois du Plessis Faf du Plessis Virat Kohli Virat Kohli Royal Challengers Bengaluru Royal Challengers Bengaluru India India Cricket Team Cricket

Get the Latest Cricket, Asian Games 2026, Football , Hockey, Badminton Scores, F1 Results at NDTV Sports. Like Us On Facebook Or Follow Us On Twitter For More Sports Updates. You Can Also Download The NDTV Cricket App For Android Or iOS.

Advertisement

Listen to the latest songs, only on JioSaavn.com

Advertisement

ICC Rankings

Advertisement

Now Trending

Advertisement

Trending Links

Follow us on:

facebook

twitter

Cricket

Football

More Sports

Formula 1 Tennis Hockey Badminton Golf Nba Kabaddi Shooting Swimming Table Tennis

This website follows the DNPA Code of Ethics © Copyright NDTV Convergence Limited 2026. All rights reserved.