India’s captain Virat Kohli has revealed that he battled depression during a heartbreaking tour of England in 2014, where he felt like the “loneliest guy in the world” after a series of failures with the bat. In a conversation with former England player Mark Nicholas on his “Not Just Cricket” podcast, Kohli admitted that he went through a difficult phase during the particularly difficult tour. “Yes, I did,” was her reply when asked if she had suffered from depression at the time. “It’s not a great feeling to wake up knowing that you won’t be able to score runs and I think every hitter has felt that at some point you are not in control of anything at all,” he recalled.
Kohli had a disastrous tour of England in 2014, posting scores of 1, 8, 25, 0, 39, 28, 0.7, 6 and 20 in five tests, averaging 13.40 over his 10 innings.
After that, he got back in shape on the Australian tour, racking up 692 races in the Test series.
“You just don’t understand how to get over it. That was a phase where I literally couldn’t do anything to change things … I felt like the loneliest guy in the world,” he said of the England tour.
Kohli remembered feeling lonely even though there were supportive people in his life. He said that what he needed was professional help.
“Personally, for me it was a revelation that you could feel so lonely despite being part of a large group. I won’t say that I didn’t have people I could talk to, but I don’t have a professional to talk to. Who could fully understand why. what I’m going through, I think is a huge factor, “explained Kohli.
“I think I’d like to see him change.”
The captain of India, considered one of the best batsmen in modern cricket, believes that mental health problems cannot be overlooked as they can destroy a person’s career.
“Someone you can go to at any time, have a conversation and say ‘Listen, this is what I’m feeling, it’s hard for me to even go to sleep, I feel like I don’t want to wake up in the morning. I don’t have confidence in myself, do I? what do I do? ‘”Kohli said.
“A lot of people suffer with that feeling for longer periods of time, it goes on for months, it goes on for a whole cricket season, people can’t get out of it.
“I strongly feel the need for professional help there to be very honest,” he added.
Kohli is currently in Ahmedabad for the ongoing home test series against England. The two teams have won one game each and will compete in the third round from February 24.
Kohli, fondly recalling his growing days, said that the Indian team of the 90s had really inspired him to start the sport.
“The Indian team of the 90s really opened my imagination on what could be done with this sport because it is so different from anything else I have seen before. It just gave me a lot of faith and the belief that magical things can be done. whether an individual believes or decides, “he said.
“That’s where the spark started … the dream of wanting to play for the country really started.”
Kohli lost his biggest supporter, his father Premchand, at the age of 18 and considers it the “most shocking” incident of his life.
“That incident really put things in the proper perspective for me. My father worked very hard in the early days to make sure I got the best cricket team or continued my cricket practice,” he said.
“From there, it made my belief even stronger, whatever happens, I’m definitely going to make my dream come true of playing at the highest level and representing my country.”
Kohli is seen as a tough, competitive and enigmatic character on the field and revealed that in real life he is no different either.
“The disconnect for many years is that people do not seem to understand, do not seem to process many times is that I have never worked to create a perception for me that is perfect from a worldly point of view. he said.
“For me, what matters is what I can do as an individual and how much I can contribute to the field of cricket as an individual.
Promoted
“I can’t make things to look good in front of a certain group of people. That’s not what I am,” he said.
Another thing she hardly cares about is his expectations when he’s on the field. “The expectation is honestly a burden when you start to overthink it.”
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