Virat Kohli on his ‘lowest point’

Virat Kohli on his 'lowest point'
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Says he “strongly feels the need for professional help” on the mental-health front to be part of team set-ups

Virat Kohli felt like the “loneliest guy in the world” when he went through a stretch of five Tests on the England tour in 2014 without a half-century. He made this revelation in a chat with Mark Nicholas on his Not Just Cricket podcast.

“It’s not a great feeling to wake up knowing that you won’t be able to score runs and I think all batsmen have felt that at some stage that you are not in control of anything at all,” Kohli said about his mental state at the time.

“You just don’t understand how to get over it. That was a phase when I literally couldn’t do anything to overturn things. I felt like I was the loneliest guy in the world.”

Kohli, who described that tour as the lowest point in his career, remembers feeling alone despite having established himself as a key member of the Test side by then. In hindsight, he looks back at that phase as one where he needed professional help but didn’t seek it.

“Personally, for me that was a revelation that you could feel that lonely even though you a part of a big group,” he said. “Won’t say I didn’t have people who 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 whom 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?’

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