MUMBAI: Former India captain Virat Kohli has revealed his motivation for continuing to play cricket despite a poor run of form.
Talking to an international sports channel, the right-handed batter expressed his desire to help India win the two major tournaments this year. “I want to win India the Asia Cup and the [T20] World Cup; that’s the motivation,” he said.
Kohli, who last scored a hundred in any format in November 2019, has also had a poor IPL 2022, averaging just over 20 after his 73 against (54) against the Gujarat Titans, with a tournament strike rate of 118.
Former India coach Ravi Shastri had suggested the star batter to take a break saying that he was “overcooked.” Acknowledging Shastri’s and other former cricketers’ concerns, Kohli hinted that he is open to the idea of stepping away from the game.
“It’s not a lot of people who mentioned it taking a break,” Kohli said. “There is one person precisely who has mentioned it which is Ravi bhai and that’s because he has seen from close quarters over the last six-seven years the reality of the situation that I have been in.”
He further said, “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.”
“It is definitely a thing that one needs to consider because you don’t want to do something which you are not a part of 100% and I have always believed in that in my life,” he added.
“So to take a break and when to take a break is obviously something that I need to take a call on, but it is only a healthy decision for anyone to take some time off and just rejuvenate yourself mentally and physically,” he added.
However, Kohli believes that such a decision is not to be taken lightly and he will mull over it only once he has discussed the situation with the team management and India head coach Rahul Dravid.
Kohli also added that he is not bothered by the setbacks and has learned a lot from this ‘phase’ of his life. “This phase for me is the easier phase to process but I don’t want to put this behind me. I want to learn from it and understand that what are the core values that I have as a sports person and as a human being,” he said.
