Former India captain Virat Kohli opened up about his days of struggle with the bat during the three years when he failed to hit a century in international cricket and the one year in 2021-22 when he failed to even hit a fifty in any form of cricket including the Indian Premier League.
After the England tour in 2022, Virat Kohli decided to take a month of playing cricket and enjoyed some time with his wife Anushka Sharma, and daughter while vacationing and he admitted that he didn’t touch the bat during that time.
And when he returned to the Indian team for the Asia Cup 2022, he roared back to form by hitting his maiden T20I century against Afghanistan. He also played an all-time classic knock of 82* against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup 2022 in MCG, where he helped India win the match from an impossible situation.
He then came back to form in ODI cricket as well, scoring 3 centuries including one against Bangladesh and then two against New Zealand in the same series.
The India batter then ended his drought of centuries in Tests by scoring a sublime 186 against Australia in the fourth Test in Ahmedabad.
The former RCB skipper now opened up about his struggling days and how he reached a point where he accepted that it might be the last month of competitive cricket.
"The most important factor in that whole transnational period before the Asia Cup last year was the fact that I was willing to let go of everything. I was willing to accept that when I go back and play, it might be the last month of me playing competitive cricket and I am absolutely okay with it," said Kohli in an interview with former India cricketer Robin Uthappa on Jio Cinema.
"Everyone was like we observe this and this is the solution for it. I couldn't get the point across that whatever shortcoming is, there is because of this (pointing towards his head). When you are not right mentally, you are all over the place. There were no technical issues because I have done this for 15 years. It can't be that all went to a standstill and the technical issues pop out right now. When I came back fresh and started hitting the ball again and people were like 'oh you made some serious changes'. But I didn't pick up the bat for six weeks," said Kohli.
Kohli’s Test century against Australia came after a wait of 1205 days and was his 75th international century and 28th in Tests.
Kohli said that he felt the need to justify himself by delivering his "absolute best" and he was living with "a facade on top" due to constant expectations of people.
"My past performances did not give me a sense that I could do whatever I want. I felt I needed to justify myself for being there at all times. I need to make sure that I am giving my absolute best and if I cannot do that organically, something needs to change. It felt like I was living with a facade on top, felt made up and unnatural. I wanted to say that I want to live, how I want to live, and if that means it is the end of the journey, so be it," Kohli said.
"I met people all over the world and they wanted me to get a hundred to enjoy their cricket. I wondered if my achievements they wanted to see, were to make them...feel happy. I was feeling weighed down even more by this. I was like Man wherever I go, this is the only response I get and I don't have many ppl asking me if I'm okay, or what's going on. But it was like 'We need, we need, we need' at all times. It was difficult to process it and I couldn't be normal at any place. I had these expectations flowing on me from every nook and corner and it became very intense," he added.
(With ANI Inputs)
