The former Indian cricket captain, Virat Kohli recently opened up about his mental battle with imposter syndrome after he stepped down from Test captaincy. He stated that Rahul Dravid and Vikram Rathour took care of him during his rough patch. Speaking at the RCB Innovation Lab Indian Sports Summit in Bengaluru, Kohli stated that he felt loss during his century drought and that he kept on questioning himself. The kind of narratives that were building on social media and the expectation of fans really pushed the button on Virat Kohli. With public outrage and people even calling for his retirement, Kohli was in probably the toughest phase of his career.

"I had a great phase and whenever I meet them, I thank them from the bottom of my heart because they took care of me in a way that made me feel like I wanted to play for them. They understood what I was feeling and genuinely took care of me mentally. That put me in a space where I could enjoy my cricket again,” said Virat Kohli. Rahul Dravid has been one of India’s best coaches over a period of time and his support as well as Vikram Rathour’s support has been acknowledged by Virat Kohli.

Virat Kohli reflects on his emotional comeback journey from his century drought during 2019-2022

"As players, you're always walking a very thin line between being cautious and being insecure. You constantly feel like you're never good enough - that imposter syndrome is always there," added Virat Kohli. The century drought that Virat was going through at that point of time seemed more like his luck was against him rather than him being out of touch. Even during his roughest patches, he played some crucial knocks but for the standards he had set, that didn’t prove to be enough.

Virat Kohli’s poor run of form wasn’t just limited to international cricket but he couldn’t find his form in IPL cricket as well. His patience was tested so much to a point that after one of his dismissals he was vivid himself and seemed to have asked God, “Why me?”. For somebody of Virat Kohli’s stature to feel that he wasn’t good enough, was absolutely mindblowing. But unfortunately that is the kind of pressure that you are put under while playing for the national side.  

The most astonishing fact about cricket is that even if you have a ton of runs under your belt and even if the batter is at the peak of his form, every innings the player will have to start from zero. Virat Kohli broke the shackles with his maiden T20 century against Afghanistan in the 2022 Asia Cup. Since then, he hasn’t had to look back as he has been once again one of India’s best players in white-ball cricket and he even scored a fighting century against South Africa in the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup final. Now, he is at the last phases of his career and he is just enjoying every match he plays and he even clarified that he will contribute for the country as long as he is valued. With the kind of fitness levels he has at this age, he could still play a couple more years and his ultimate goal will be to win the ICC 2027 ODI World Cup for India along with Rohit Sharma.