IPL 2020: Adam Zampa says Virat Kohli is a competitive beast on the field but chilled out outside

Indian skipper Virat Kohli is a fierce competitor on the field and is never the one to back off from any challenge – In fact he craves for competition as it brings out the best in him. However, outside the ground, he is one jolly individual as per his Royal Challengers Bangalore teammate Adam Zampa.

The Australian leg-spinner got to know Kohli closely in the UAE, for over two months in the whole IPL 2020 season. The leggie spoke about the Indian captain on “The Unplayable Podcast.”

"He's a totally different person off the field. You see his aggression and how competitive he is on the field. He's actually one of the most chilled out guys off the field," said Zampa.

Zampa, who has had tussles with Kohli while plying his trade for Australia, opined that one gets to know people better, outside the field of play.

"Obviously, you always play against him, you get to know what he's like on the field and then being able to spend time away from the cricket field with guys like that, you see how human they actually are."

The Aussie, who played just three games for RCB this season, noticed two completely different sides to Kohli. He said that Kohli was a beast while playing the game but he’s a ‘lovely guy’ outside it.

"He's the kind of guy (that) as soon as he walks across that line, he's a competitive beast. I saw it first-hand playing with him, there's two different versions of him and that's the weight of expectation he has on himself to perform for India. But when he's off the field he's a lovely guy and very chilled out," the Aussie said.

RCB had a decent outing in IPL 2020 – qualifying into the Playoffs stage before getting knocked out by SRH in the Eliminator. Kohli had a topsy-turvy campaign with 466 runs from 15 games. While he played some gritty knocks, he never looked at his best. Zampa, however, was left impressed by his RCB skipper.
 

Zampa labelled Kohli as a jovial individual, who laughs his heart out
"He's actually one of those guys...he's a very easy laugh -- you can say the worst joke in the world and he'll laugh his head off. He'd had enough of me by the end of it trying to make him laugh until his cheeks were sore."