'The day my drive goes away, I won't play': Kohli opens up on slump in form, says current career phase is his 'happiest'

Despite not being among runs, Virat Kohli insists that the current phase of his career is his 'happiest', and that he no longer is driven by what people's perception of him.

Despite not being among runs, Virat Kohli insists that the current phase of his career is his 'happiest', and that he no longer is driven by what people's perception of him. Kohli, the former India captain, who once dominated world cricket scoring heaps of runs tournament after the other, finds himself in a huge slump, more so in the IPL 2022, where Kohli has 236 runs from 13 matches with one half-century, a far cry from his usual flamboyance best. He has endured three-first ball ducks, dished out various expressions after getting out and has at times gotten in the strangest of manners this season of the IPL. Yet somehow, Kohli manages to see the bright side of it.

Virat Kohli in action for RCB in IPL 2022. (PTI)

"My experiences are sacred to me. Whatever I have experienced in this phase or in the past as well, one thing I can vouch for is that I have never valued myself more as a person. Because I'm experiencing now that there is a big sense of the identity that's created by the world for you, which is far more different and so far away from the reality of you as a human being," Kohli said on the Star Sports show 'INSIDE RCB'

"So, what I'm experiencing now is that I am valuing myself and I care for my own well-being way more I would have in the past. I'm actually in the happiest phase of my life. I am not finding any self-worth or value in what I do on the field. I'm way past that phase. This is a phase of evolution for me."

Since Kohli has given up captaincy, visuals of his aggression, encouragement and chirping away at bowlers have died down a little prompting many to believe that perhaps the former India skipper has mellowed a little. Kohli, however, stressed that he still has the hunger and the will to give his best, without which he says he would not be playing.

"Not to say that I don't have the same drive, my drive will never die down. The day my drive goes away, I'll not be playing this game. But to understand that somethings are not controllable, the only controllable you have are things that you can work towards, which is working hard on the field and in life as well and from that point of view, I feel that I am in the most balanced space that I have ever been and I am happy with who I am and how I am leading my life," added Kohli. 

"I am not finding any source of encouragement or disappointment by what happens on the field. So, this has not been about myself, this is about the fact that I have not contributed to my team’s cause as much as I would have wanted to or I pride myself to, and that is something that always disappoints me, not what I do as an individual. It's because I don't want to let my team down."