Didn’t touch the bat for a month: Kohli opens up on feeling ‘mentally down’

ANIAbu DhabiAs India take on arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday in Asia Cup, the star batter of India Virat Kohli will be hoping to get back in the good form after not scoring an international ton for more than 1,000 days and the talk surrounding his slump form continues to rise.In an interview with broadcaster Star Sports, Kohli opened up on why he was required to have a break from cricket and said he did not touch his cricket bat for a month. "For the first time in 10 years, I didn’t touch my bat for a month. I came to the realisation that I was trying to fake my intensity a bit recently. I was convincing myself that no, you had the intensity. But your body was telling you to stop. The mind was telling me to take a break and step back,” Kohli said."I’m 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. This period taught me a lot of things that I wasn’t allowed to come to the surface. When they eventually came up, I embraced them,” he added.When India will take to the field to play arch-rivals Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday to start their Asia Cup 2022 campaign, star batter Virat Kohli will represent the nation in his 100th T20I match and will also become the first player in history to play a hundred matches for India in all formats of the game."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 because we are hesitant. We don’t want to be looked at as mentally weak. Trust me, faking to be strong is far worse than admitting to being weak,” he said.In another interview with BCCI, Kohli said he wants to win a match for the team at any cost.On Sunday, all eyes will be glued to the TVs, with the fans hoping that India not only avenges their previous loss to Pakistan, but Virat also scores big."I want to make my team win at any cost and if that means that I am gasping for breath and I walk off the field, so be it. I mean that’s the kind of preparation I go through to be able to play like that. Wo naturally nahi ho raha tha aur mujhe push karna pad raha tha (I was not able to get that high intensity naturally, I was pushing myself to do it). But I just didn’t know it,” said Kohli.Meanwhile, India’s captain Rohit Sharma said a lot of players have gone through hard times mentally since COVID-19 struck due to the requirement to stay in bubbles and inside hotels for a long period of time."in bubbles, not being able to go outside, some of the guys find it difficult. And there is nothing wrong with it because of how you led your life until you were stuck with Covid,” Rohit said at a press conference ahead of the vital opening match against Pakistan in the Asia Cup."Suddenly you had to stay inside hotels for two-two months when we did long tours. The quarantines and all that, it was not easy. Every player has his own way to respond to that and there is nothing wrong if a player has his view on.”"That is also the reason why having gaps between the matches and looking at workload has become so important, the skipper stressed."There is constant talk around how the players are mentally and what they think of the game. And how we can keep them fresh. That freshness is very, very important when you are playing high-pressure games. Mental health is very important,” Rohit said.