A simmering debate over the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) new family travel policy has brought contrasting views from two of Indian cricket’s most influential voices—head coach Gautam Gambhir and senior batter Virat Kohli.
Introduced after India’s 1-3 loss in the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, the BCCI’s updated guidelines limit the duration that players’ families can accompany them on overseas tours. Under the revised policy, families are allowed for 14 days on tours lasting 45 days or more, and just seven days for shorter trips.
While Kohli has publicly criticized the move, calling it emotionally challenging, Gambhir—tasked with leading India into a new era—has thrown his full support behind the decision.
Kohli voices concern: “I don’t want to go to my room and just sit alone”
Speaking at the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) Innovation Lab Indian Sports Summit, Kohli shared a deeply personal take on how crucial family presence is during intense tours.
“It’s very difficult to explain to people how grounding it is to just come back to your family every time you have something which is intense, which happens on the outside. I don’t think people have an understanding of what value it brings to a large extent. And I feel quite disappointed about that because it’s like people who have no control over what’s going on are kind of brought into conversations and put out at the forefront that, ‘oh, maybe they need to be kept away’.”
Kohli argued that the emotional stability family provides is essential to player well-being.
“If you ask any player, do you want your family to be around you all the time? You’ll be like, yes. I don’t want to go to my room and just sit alone and sulk. I want to be able to be normal. And then you can really treat your game as something that is a responsibility. You finish that responsibility, and you come back to life.”
Gambhir pushes back: “You are here for a purpose. It’s not a holiday.”
Responding in an interview with Cheteshwar Pujara ahead of the Lord’s Test in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, Gambhir took a more pragmatic, performance-first stance.
“Families are important, but you’ve got to understand one thing. You are here for a purpose. It’s not a holiday. You’re here for a huge purpose. You’ve got very few people in that dressing room or in this tour that gets this opportunity to make the country proud. So yes, I’m not against not having families with us.”
For Gambhir, while family support is acknowledged, the larger responsibility of representing India on the global stage outweighs other considerations.
“It is important to have families, but if your focus is towards making our country proud and you have a much bigger role than any other thing, and you’re committed to that goal, you’re committed to that cause, I think everything else is fine. But for me, I think that cause and that goal is more important than any other thing.”
Inside Gambhir’s mindset: Always thinking ahead
The interview with Pujara also gave insight into Gambhir’s relentless mindset. Even after a hard-fought win, his mind immediately shifted to future challenges.
“That’s a tough question. I still haven’t understood how do I switch off because I never switch off and sometimes it’s very funny and it’s very weird. Honestly, when we won the last test match, the moment we won the last test match, the first thing that came in my mind was that what is going to be the combination for the next Test?”
He added:
“And when I went back in my room, I was thinking, how does that work? We’ve just won a test match. The guys have worked hard to make a comeback after the first one, I already started thinking about what’s going to be the combination, how can we win the next one? but I still haven’t figured out honestly to switch off.”
Culture shift under Gambhir
The contrasting views between Kohli and Gambhir reflect a larger shift underway in Indian cricket. With Gambhir at the helm, the BCCI appears focused on instilling a culture of absolute professional commitment, even at the cost of personal comforts. Kohli, meanwhile, is advocating for a more holistic approach that considers mental and emotional well-being alongside performance.
The conversation around the family travel policy is far from over—and may shape not only future BCCI guidelines but also the evolving expectations of life as a modern international cricketer.
