‘Pichle do Saal Mein…’: Virat Kohli Sheds Light on How he Became Cranky And Desperate After Slump in Form

Virat Kohli waited almost three years to score his 71st international century India The batting superstar has recalled how he became desperate to get back to his old form, even as he started crawling in desperation to his close family members. It was that mental space that made him a consistent performer across formats.

On Tuesday, Kohli scored his third international score in a span of nearly four months, showing that he is steadily edging back to his old self.

In conversation with his Indian teammate Suryakumar Yadav, Kohli talked about the mental struggles and how he took a step back to rediscover the joy of playing cricket.

Read also: Shubman Gill regrets missing out on a hundred in Guwahati

“You (Suryakumar) must have also felt that people look at you differently now. Now when the sun is playing, people thinkSurya karke dega (He will deliver). So, keeping up with it is a very intense process. Sometimes when you have form, all these things flow well. But when it comes down to it, in my case it starts getting frustrating because I wanted to play like that, people had expectations from me. But cricket was not allowing me to play like that, that era was different. So, I was very far from where my cricket was because my attachments, desires were completely gone,” Kohli said in a video shared by the BCCI on its official website.

He further said, that’s when I realized that I cannot get away from who I am. I have to be honest with myself, even when I am weak, not playing well, I am the worst player. I have to admit it. There was a lot of frustration coming in my case. It wasn’t fair with anyone around me. Anushka (Sharma), my close friend. It’s not fair to the people who support you, who see you in that spot all the time. So I had to take responsibility and put things in perspective.

Kohli, who scored his maiden T20I century in Asia Cup 2023, said the tournament was where he started enjoying training again.

watch: Dewald Brewis scored 70* off 41 balls on SA20 debut

“After that when I returned during the Asia Cup, I started enjoying the practice, training, the way I have always played my cricket. So I would just say that if you’re feeling even a little bit desperate, instead of pushing as hard as you can, just take a couple of steps back because that thing will start to get further away from you.”

In his first innings of 2023, Kohli smashed a brilliant 113 off 87 balls – something he had been unable to do over the years.

,Do you want to eat like this? (It hasn’t started way for me in the last two years). It was the first match of the year and I scored a century,” Kohli said.

“I hope to build on that because this is also the year World Cup and then we have a big series against Australia. Scoring runs in big matches always boosts your confidence. Today, I was happy to bat almost the entire innings, it was important for the team to get 25-30 extra runs with dew. I’m just happy. For me it’s about being excited to play. As long as I am happy, I can play like this. When you are playing so much, sometimes your mindset goes up and down, but keeping that mental freshness is helping me.”

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