Big Reveal! Virat Kohli almost left cricket during lean patch, confirms MS Dhoni was not the only player to reach out to him

Virat Kohli has been in fine form since the Asia Cup.

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• Mon • 17 Apr 2023

Virat Kohli has been in fine form since the Asia Cup. He was the highest run-getter at the 2022 T20 World Cup, with 296 runs to his name, and also ended his century droughts across all formats in the last eight months.

But there was a time when the former India skipper almost left the sport and thought that the Asia Cup would have been his last tournament for the country. However, he went on to have an exceptional tournament, even scoring his first T20I century against Afghanistan. Despite not winning the tournament, it was one of the best performances by Kohli in a very long time, and the batter has not looked back since.

"The most important factor in that whole transitional period before the Asia Cup last year was the fact that I was willing to let go of everything. I was willing to accept that when I go back and play, it might be the last month of me playing competitive cricket and I am absolutely okay with it," said Kohli in an interview with former India cricketer Robin Uthappa on Jio Cinema.

He also said that everyone gave him different kinds of advice on how to change his batting but it was all in his head. "Everyone was like we observe this and this is the solution for it. I couldn't get the point across that whatever shortcoming is, there is because of this (pointing towards his head). When you are not right mentally, you are all over the place. There were no technical issues because I have done this for 15 years.

"It can't be that all went to a standstill and the technical issues pop out right now. When I came back fresh and started hitting the ball again and people were like 'oh you made some serious changes'. But I didn't pick up the bat for six weeks," said the former RCB captain.

Kohli also revealed in the video that other than MS Dhoni, Robin Uthappa had also approached him asking how he is doing. “Because I was not in a space where I was comfortable with myself, I was looking for all kinds of excuses that it must be happening because of this and that or technical changes.

But you were in touch with me at that point of time and I beyond a point I figured out people cannot feel what I am feeling. You sensed something with my body language and asked 'Are you okay? Just wanted to check in on you.' That happened very rarely,” he said.