Former India batter Ajay Jadeja has reacted to Virat Kohli's chilling revelations about being mentally down before his break from international cricket, saying it sets a precedent and will pave way for the future generations to be more open and vocal about the issue. Kohli on Saturday, in an interview with Star Sports, revealed there were times that he 'faked his intensity' and that he did not touch his bat even once in the last one month.
"Something different this break was that for the first time in 10 years I have not touched my bat since a month. That's when I sat down and I came to the realisation that I am kind-off trying to fake my intensity a bit recently. I was experiencing that I'm not excited to train, I wasn't excited to practice and that really disturbed me because this is not who I am and I literally need to step away from that environment," Kohli had said.
Agreeing with what the former India captain had to say, Jadeja underlined the mental aspect of the game of cricket and explained how probably at this stage of his career, Kohli looks at things differently that he did when he was a youngster. The story of Kohli the brave-heart, who went to play for Delhi in the Ranji Trophy, a day after his father's death, is one of the most courageous ever heard, but what Kohli did then isn't something that may apply to him today, reckons Jadeja.
{{/usCountry}}Agreeing with what the former India captain had to say, Jadeja underlined the mental aspect of the game of cricket and explained how probably at this stage of his career, Kohli looks at things differently that he did when he was a youngster. The story of Kohli the brave-heart, who went to play for Delhi in the Ranji Trophy, a day after his father's death, is one of the most courageous ever heard, but what Kohli did then isn't something that may apply to him today, reckons Jadeja.
{{/usCountry}}"It is a mental sport because it's not just your mind. You are playing in a team. There is a certain role you are playing which affects the other person too. I doubt that he would have not held a bat for 10 years in the first decade. It's the first time that he has experienced this and people look at life differently. When you are 18-20 and when you get to 30, or 40, you look at the same scenario differently. This is the same guy who, when his father passed away, went to the cricket ground. He didn't go to the cremation. He went to the cricket ground, finished his innings and at that age, he thought that is what is to be done. And now he probably thinks differently. That's what he has come out and said," he said on Cricbuzz.
With Kohli back in the Indian team fresh and re-energised, Jadeja, like the whole of India, wishes to see the champion batter back in his finest form. Kohli has been struggling for runs but the belief is that being away for three weeks must have done him a world of good. There cannot be a more opportune time or platform for Kohli to come back to his dominant best than an India vs Pakistan match, at the Asia Cup 2022.
"Why Virat Kohli is loved is because he does things that no one else has done or no one else has shown. I think the energy that he has shown in the last 10-12 years in international cricket, I doubt there is any other human being who has shown that kind of energy day in and day out on the ground. For a man to think that I didn't want to go to a ground tells you what state of mind he must have been in. I am hoping, like the whole country is, that he will score runs because he is bound to, if not today, tomorrow," Jadeja added.