When Virat Kohli felt like the ‘loneliest guy in the world’

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India captain Virat Kohli

India captain Virat Kohli has shed some light on a time in his career where he felt like the “loneliest guy in the world”.

Speaking to Mark Nicholas in his Not Just Cricket podcast, Kohli said a run of five Test against England in 2014 without a half-century was arguably the most difficult period of his career.

“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 quipped about his psychological state as quoted by ESPN.
“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.”

Professional help needed

Whilst describing that as the lowest point in his career, he said hindsight confirmed to him that he needed some sort of professional counselling on the matter.

“Personally, for me that was a revelation that you could feel that lonely even though you a part of a big group,” he continued.

“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?’

“Lot of people suffer with that feeling for longer periods of time, it carries on for months, it carries on for a whole cricket season, people are not able to get out of it. I strongly feel the need for professional help [to be] there to be very honest.”

The Royal Challengers Bangalore side led by Kohli was the only team competing in the IPL last year in the UAE with a psychologist as part of their squad, to help the players cope with life in a bio bubble.

India Virat Kohli

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