How A Conversation With Sachin Tendulkar Helped Virat Kohli Tackle His Mental Health Issues

Indian captain Virat Kohli recently made damning revelations about what he was going through during the disastrous 2014 tour of England where he struggled to counter the moving ball.

The Indian captain revealed that he went through depression at the time and it was his conversation with the legendary Sachin Tendulkar that opened his eyes about mental health.

Kohli, during a conversation with Mark Nicholas on the ‘Not Just Cricket’ podcast, revealed that Sachin had advised him to not fight the negative thoughts coming in his head and instead let them pass as fighting only makes those feelings stronger.

“I did have a chat with him about the mental side of things as well and the thing that he told me was, in cricket what he experienced was if you are going through a strong negative feeling and if that is coming into your system regularly, it is best to let it pass,” said Virat Kohli.

“If you start fighting that feeling, it grows stronger. So, that is the advice I took on board and my mindset really opened up from then on,” he added.

On the same podcast, Virat Kohli also revealed how he felt like the ‘loneliest man in the world’ during his struggles in England in 2014.

In 10 innings Virat Kohli managed a mere 134 runs against the likes of James Anderson, Stuart Broad a India were thrashed 1-3.

“I did (feel depressed). It’s not a great feeling when wake up knowing that you won’t be able to score any runs and I think all batsmen have felt that at some stage or the other that you are not in control of anything at all. And you just don’t understand how to get over it,” Kohli revealed.

“I think when you look back at a very difficult phase, you realise that you had to go through that phase fully to be able to understand what is wrong and rectify and move forward and open yourself up for change. That was a phase where I literally couldn’t do anything to overturn what I was going through. I felt like I was the loneliest guy in the world,” he added.

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