New Delhi: India skipper Virat Kohli shocked one and all about his revelation about going through depression, after failing with the bat during a tour of England in 2014. The 32-year-old also revealed that a conversation with Sachin Tendulkar on mental health ‘opened up’ his mindset. Kohli said that Tendulkar advised him not to fight the negative feelings, which did wonders for him.
“I did have a chat with him about the mental side of things as well and the thing that he told me was, in cricket what he experienced was if you are going through a strong negative feeling and if that is coming into your system regularly, it is best to let it pass. If you start fighting that feeling, it grows stronger. So, that is the advice I took on board and my mindset really opened up from then on,” Kohli said.
Kohli and Tendulkar both belong to two different eras of cricket. The current India skipper got the opportunity to share the dressing room with the legendary batsman in a total of 31 ODIs and 17 Test matches from 2009 to 2013.
Kohli struggled miserably during the tour and failed to score big in the five-match Test series. The Indian skipper averaged 13.50 in his 10 innings against England during the 2014 tour, which India lost 1-3.
Recalling the England tour back in 2014 earlier, Kohli had said, “I did (feel depressed). It’s not a great feeling when you wake up knowing that you won’t be able to score any runs, and I think all batsmen have felt that at some stage or the other that you are not in control of anything at all. And you just don’t understand how to get over it.
“I think, when you look back at a very difficult phase, you realise that you had to go through that phase fully to be able to understand what is wrong and rectify and move forward and open yourself up for change. That was a phase where I literally couldn’t do anything to overturn what I was going through. I felt like I was the loneliest guy in the world,” said Kohli.
Over the years Kohli has emerged as one of the most sought-after cricketers in the world, not just in terms of his performances on the field but also his approach towards the game. He said that he would like to see more mental health awareness in cricket.
“For me, personally, that was a revelation that you could feel that lonely even though you a part of a big group. I won’t say I didn’t have people that I could speak to but not having a professional to speak to who could understand what I am going through completely, I think is a huge factor. I think I would like to see it change.
“Someone that you can go to at any stage, have a conversation around, and say ‘Listen this is what I am feeling, I am finding it hard to even go to sleep, I feel like I don’t want to wake up in the morning. I have no confidence in myself, what do I do?” he concluded.
