India’s batting superstar Virat Kohli has been going through a lean patch in his career for a long time now. He has not scored an international century for more than 1000 days and the dip in his form has become one of the most talked about topics in the cricket fraternity.
Kohli scored only 76 runs across one Test match, two T20Is, and two ODIs against England. After the tour concluded, Virat Kohli was rested for the tours against West Indies and Zimbabwe. As the Indian batting legend will return to competitive cricket at the Asia Cup, he will be hoping to find his rhythm back when the Indian side will take on Pakistan in their opening clash of the multi-nation tournament on August 28.
Ahead of the much-awaited clash between the two arch-rivals, Virat Kohli addressed admitted that he was feeling “mentally down”, which eventually resulted in him taking a break from cricket following the 2022 tour of England in July.
For the first time, Virat opened up on why he needed to have a break and how he was trying to fake his intensity. He said:
“For the first time in 10 years, I did not touch the bat for one month. I came to the realisation that I was kind of trying to fake my intensity a bit recently, you know you can do that, you are competitive and you are saying I have the intensity but your body is telling you to stop and it is telling you to take a break and step back. I am looked at as a guy who is very mentally strong and I am. Everyone has a limit and you need to recognise that limit otherwise things can get unhealthy for you,”
He added: “This period taught me a lot, you know many things I was not allowing to come to the surface. When it surfaced, I embraced it. I am not shy to accept that I was feeling mentally down, it is a normal thing to feel but we don’t speak because we are hesitant, we don’t want to be looked at as mentally weak or weak people. Trust me, faking to be strong is far worse than admitting to be weak,”
Further, talking more about his intensity, Virat Kohli expressed his love for the game of cricket. He said:
“I am a person who wakes up and feels like let’s see what the day has for me and be part of everything that I am doing through the day with absolute presence, involvement and happiness. That is who I have always been, people ask me a lot how do you deal with this on the field and how do you carry on with the same intensity. I just tell them I love playing the game and I love the fact that I have so much to contribute and I would give my every inch on the field.”
He added: “To me, it never felt abnormal and a lot of people on the outside and even within the team, ask me how do you keep up with it. I just say one simple thing, I want to make my team win at any cost and if that means, I am gasping for breath when I walk off the field, so be it. That’s the kind of preparation I go through, to be able to play like that. That was not happening naturally, and I had to push myself. But I just did not know it,”
Up close and personal with @imVkohli!
Coming back from a break, Virat Kohli speaks about the introspection, the realisation and his way forward!
Full interview coming up on https://t.co/Z3MPyeKtDz
Watch this space for more
#TeamIndia | #AsiaCup2022 | #AsiaCup pic.twitter.com/fzZS2XH1r1
— BCCI (@BCCI) August 27, 2022
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