Virat Kohli drops 'India vs Pakistan' statement as he compares the pressure faced by cricketers and tennis players

Virat Kohli watched Wimbledon 2025 tennis tournament with his wife Anushka Sharma.

Indian Cricket Team batter Virat Kohli compared the pressure faced by cricketers and tennis players. On Monday, he watched the Wimbledon 2025 tennis tournament live in London with his wife, Anushka Sharma.

Kohli, who lives with his family in London, is not part of the ongoing test series between India and England. Ahead of the series, he announced his retirement from tests. He represented the Indian Cricket Team in 123 tests. With 9230 runs, he retired as the fourth-highest run-scorer for his team in the format after Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sunil Gavaskar.

Virat Kohli makes comparisons between the pressure faced by cricketers and tennis players

During an interview with Star Sports, Kohli compared the pressure felt by tennis players and cricketers. Kohli feels that cricketers face more pressure than tennis players during knockout games in the World Cup tournaments.

“I think the experience (in pressure situations) can be similar. But the intimidation factor and the pressure that would replicate for us in a World Cup game, a World Cup match between India and Pakistan or a semifinal or a final of the World Cup, your legs are shivering because of sheer pressure,” he said.

“But these players might be facing that from the quarterfinal onwards to the final, which I think is a lot of pressure to handle. I have a lot of respect for tennis players for playing with that composure and maintaining that level of fitness and mental toughness,” he added.

Kohli also added that, unlike tennis players, a batsman doesn’t know when he will have to step into the field.

“Different sports have different challenges. In cricket, one of the challenges is that you have to wait for a long period, you warm-up in the morning and then you come back and wait in the dressing room, as you don’t know when you are going to bat,” he said.

“Sitting there, reading the game, the situation changes so drastically. Here (in tennis) probably you have set conditions, you know what you are walking into,” he added.

Meanwhile, Kohli was last seen in action during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. His team, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), won the title after defeating Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the final. Kohli, who only plays in ODIs now, is expected to be part of India’s squad for the white-ball series against Australia in October.

For more updates, follow Khel Now Cricket on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Whatsapp & Telegram.