I Was Feeling Mentally Down, Didn't Touch My Bat For A Month For First Time In 10 Years: Virat Kohli

After back-to-back failures and runs drying out on England tour, Virat decided to take a break and missed India's tour of the West Indies and Zimbabwe.

The last time Virat played international cricket was in the month of July, during India's tour of England.

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Virat Kohli opens up on mental fitness: Indian cricket team's former captain Virat Kohli, for the first time ever, has openly spoken about his recent struggles and mental fitness. The Indian cricket great said that it was the first time in 10 years that he has not touched a bat for a month. Virat openly admitted to mental fatigue. The last time he played international cricket was in the month of July, during India's tour of England. After back-to-back failures and runs drying out on England tour, Virat decided to take a break and missed India's tour of the West Indies and Zimbabwe.

“For the first time in 10 years, I didn't touch my bat for a month. I came to realisation that I was trying to fake my intensity a bit recently. I was convincing myself that no, you had the intensity. But your body was telling you to stop. The mind was telling me to take a break and step back,” Kohli said in a video posted by Star Sports.

It's @imVkohli like you've never seen him before as he opens up to his fans in a special episode of Virat: Heart To Heart.

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"I'm looked at as a guy who is mentally very strong and I am. But everyone has a limit and you need to recognize that limit, otherwise things can get unhealthy for you.

“This period taught me a lot of things that I wasn't allowing to come to surface. When they eventually came up, I embraced it.”

Kohli also revealed that he felt “mentally down".

“I'm not shy to admit that I was feeling mentally down. This is a very normal thing to feel, but we don't speak because we are hesitant. We don't want to be looked at as mentally weak. Trust me, faking to be strong is far worse than admitting to be weak,” he said.