I was faking intensity, was mentally weak, opens up Virat Kohli ahead of INDvsPAK clash in Asia Cup 2022: Virat Kohli’s recent blunt and unreserved interview with broadcaster Star Sports, ahead of the Asia Cup 2022, has revealed a lot about Kohli as a cricketer and as a human. The Indian maestro batter opened up on his mental health and how he tried to persuade his body to fake the intensity, even though he wasn’t feeling it.
The former Indian skipper is enduring a lean patch in his career. Even though there seems to be nothing wrong with his batting, the runs have dried up. He hasn’t been able to breach the three figures over the last 1000 days. The player who used to tonk bowlers for fun became a shadow of himself.
In the interview, Virat Kohli admitted that he tried to be bullish and didn’t give a damn about his form. However, a long breather from cricket has offered him a different perspective.
Kohli was rested by the BCCI for the last two limited-overs series against West Indies and Zimbabwe. During the break of close to one-and-a-half months, Kohli realised that all this while his brain was constantly telling him to take a step back from cricket.
“For the first time in 10 years, I didn’t touch a bat for a month. I thought about it and I came to the realisation that I was trying to fake my intensity a bit recently. You are convincing yourself that you can do it and you have the intensity, but your body is telling you to stop. Your mind is telling you to just take a break and step back. I was experiencing that I was not excited to train, I wasn’t excited to practice, and that really disturbed me because this is not who I am, and I literally needed to step away from that environment,” said Kohli.
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The man who tormented the opposition gracefully divulged that he feeling was mentally weak and he is not shy to brush it aside.
“This has been an amazing break. I am looked at as a guy who has been mentally very strong. I am, but everyone has a limit and you need to recognise that limit,” he said.
“Otherwise, things can get unhealthy for you. This period actually taught me a lot of things that I was not allowing to come to the surface. I am not shy to admit that I was feeling mentally down. This is a very normal thing to feel. But we don’t speak because we are hesitant. We don’t want to be looked at as weak people. Faking to be strong is far worse than admitting to be weak. I am feeling light now for sure.”
It’s clearly evident that King Kohli’s new outlook will certainly bring some positive changes. He is fresh and looked confident. His first challenge will be against Pakistan, which is certainly going to be entertaining for all cricket fans across the globe.
India will take on Pakistan on 28th August in Dubai International Stadium.
