Former team India captain and ace batter Virat Kohli has highlighted that he desires to compete at the highest level and has been focussing on his fitness as that has helped him sustain and compete at the highest level in cricket for the last 10 years.
"It is the will to continue to compete at the highest level that actually makes you want to put that energy every ball that you are part of", Kohli said in an interview with former cricketer Robin Uthappa on Jio Cinemas.
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The same will helps him sustain physical demands of T20 cricket.
"The thing that makes you run non-stop in a T20 game all over the field and then bat, run and hit sixes is the will to do it. When we warm up and play football we can carry on for an hour, but if you ask me to run two laps of the ground I will be gassing out in a lap and a half, cause I am not mentally there, so I figured out mental freshness is the most important thing", Kohli said, highlighting the importance of mental health in his fitness regime.
But despite taking care of his mental health, Kohli had to deal with mental health issues as things got hectic for him.
"It became difficult (to maintain mental health balance ) for me, I won't lie. Things got very very hectic. But then you had to step away. In times when everyone is trying to grab more and more and more, I was like if I keep being part of this rat race I am going to go in a space which is very very unhealthy, so me taking time off from the game was probably the most important thing that I needed at that moment", said Kohli.
Kohli was candid in admitting that a stardom did started to affect him and it started to weigh on him.
"I won't be dishonest...I was doing that for a long period of time. Till the time that it became so unhealthy where I was trying to live upto the expecations and this idea of Virat Kohli in people's heads, ... like this guy has to operate in this way, he has to present himself in a certain manner and that was eating me up from the inside because I have never been a guy to pretend or portray someone that I am not." Kohli added.
Kohli then give insights into the time when he had stepped away from international cricket last year to take care of his mental health, the time that he labels in the interview as "transnational period"
"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. " Kohli explained.
Kohli said that trying to meet people's expectations proved unhealthy for him.
"it was actually what they (people) wanted me to be, rather than being myself. To be very honest, when I met people all around the world they are like 'we want to enjoy cricket so we want you to get a hundred', so I was like, so my achievements is something they want to see to make them feel happy, which was weighing me down even more." Kohli said.
Kohli further said that because he was not in the right mental space it also became a challenge for him to make the technical corrections in his game.
"Everyone was like, 'we have observed this and this is the solution to that', I couldn't get the point across that whatever shortcomings that you are visually seeing are happening because I am not right here, " Kohli explained while pointing towards his head.
According to Kohli "when you are not right mentally, your technique is all over the place., cause all you do is to survive. "
Kohli also acknowledged the role of his wife, Anushka Sharma, in helping him deal with the challenges.
"...that is why I say Anushka's name first always. Cause she has seen the challenges of being in this position. She knows it. She has been there for so many years. She still understands that what it takes to handle the pressure of a public figure. So her conversations with me have always been priceless, because she tells me the truth. ", said Kohli.
(Edited by : Jerome Anthony)
First Published: Apr 17, 2023 3:20 PM IST
