Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
India and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batter Virat Kohli is widely regarded as one of the best batters of modern-day cricket. While he has stamped his authority in world cricket over the years with his sheer class and consistency, even a batter of his stature has not been amongst the runs lately.
While Kohli had a similar horror tour of England in 2014, he bounced back in fine style to score loads of runs in the years to follow. However, in a recent interview with RCB Inside, Kohli highlighted a key difference between the two phases. He said that while there was a pattern in England that he needed to overcome on that occasion, right now there is nothing that one can pinpoint and say that this is the reason for his dismissals.
In addition, the 33-year-old said that he was not feeling that he was batting well at all during that tour which is not the case in the ongoing phase.
"What happened in England was a pattern and this was something I needed to overcome. Right now as you rightly mentioned there is nothing that you can point out saying that yahan pe problem ho rahi hai", he said.
Moreover, Kohli said that he is in the happiest phase of his life as he does not find any self-worth or value in his performances on the field. He said that he is way past that phase of his life. The ex-Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper weighed in on the advice of a break suggested to him by former India head coach Ravi Shastri and said that he could consider it as it is a healthy decision to rejuvenate oneself.
"The amount of cricket that I have played and the ups and downs and the toll that it takes on you to play three formats of the game plus the IPL for 10-11 years non-stop with the seven years of captaincy in between," Kohli said.
"So I don't think there is anything wrong in that (taking break). It's a very healthy thing to think of especially with the amount of cricket that we play nowadays and the amount of cricket that I have played in the last 10-11 years as I mentioned," he added.
"It's only a thing of creating a balance and finding that balance which is right for you as an individual moving forward and I'll definitely discuss this with all the people involved - Rahul bhai, the Indian team management, everyone to chart out whatever is best for myself and for the team definitely," he further said.
Kohli will next be seen in RCB colours in the IPL 2022 Eliminator against Lucknow Super Giants on May 25.