Kohli opens up about mental fatigue

Former India captain Virat Kohli has opened up about his mental health as he eyes a return to cricket following a 42-day gap, a break he took following the end of the England tour in July.

The stellar batsman revealed that he hadn’t taken up his bat for a month and taking that break helped him rejuvenate, and rediscover his love for training and operating at a very high level.

“This is the first time in 10 years that I have not touched the bat in a whole month. When I sat down and thought about it, I was like I haven’t actually touched a bat for 30 days, which I haven’t done ever in my life. That’s when I came to the realisation that I was kind of trying to fake my intensity a bit recently,” he said

“This has been an amazing break. I never had this long a break, and the first thing I realise that I woke up in the morning and was excited to go to the gym,” he added.

The 33-year-old said that the break has helped him to regain perspective on things other than cricket. He also revealed that he had become overwhelmed by the frequency of the fixtures and stepping away gave him that time to come to terms with his mental situation.

“I have been looked at as a guy who is mentally very strong, and I am, but everyone has a limit and you need to recognise that limit or things can get unhealthy for you. So, this period actually taught me a lot of things that I was not allowing to come to the surface. When they did, I embraced it. There is much more to life than just your profession. Or when the environment around you is such that everyone looks at only your professional identity, somewhere you start losing perspective as a human being,” he said.