Virat Kohli has always been inspirational in every walk of his international career. His unreal consistency and work ethic is second to none. The run machine amassed tons of runs for fun, scoring hundreds each of the third innings.
But during the last 2 years, the champion was out of runs. He was in the leanest of patches and luck was not favoring him. It made us finally realize that Virat is a human. He was not in the most positive and healthy state of mind which resulted in him not scoring runs.
His larger-than-life character has made people always drawn toward him. But inside the mind of the beast, something was causing discomfort.
Virat after his long-awaited 71st hundred told the media that the time away from cricket helped him get fresh and start new. The batter did not touch the bat for more than a month and had a big vacation. The vacation helped him to get into a positive state of mind and the results were evident.
Kohli said that he was trying to fake out the intensity and was not able to give his hundred percent on the field. He also told that he felt alone in a room full of people and was battling with mental health issues.
What Virat said
“I came to the realization that I was kind of trying to fake my intensity a bit, recently,”
Virat told Star Sports.
“You are convincing yourself: ‘No, I have the intensity.’ But your body is telling you to stop. Your mind’s telling you to take a break and step back.”
“I am looked at as a guy who is mentally very strong, and I am. But everyone has a limit, and you need to recognize that limit, otherwise, things can get unhealthy for you.
“I’m not shy to admit that I was feeling mentally down. This is a very normal thing to feel, but we don’t speak. We don’t want to be looked at as mentally weak,”
he added.
“It’s not abnormal. Talk about it and discuss it with people. We don’t speak because we are hesitant.
“Trust me, faking to be strong is far worse and that’s something that I’m not feeling any shame for, that I was feeling mentally weak.”
Virat coming out in support of mental health shows that even the strongest of athletes face self-doubt and have vulnerabilities. Virat Kohli’s story tells us that it is okay to feel vulnerable and low. But how you bounce back and ignore the unnecessary criticism eventually matters the most.
For more sports-related news, follow us on Twitter
