Virat Kohli cried when he couldn't make it to Delhi state team
Virat Kohli claimed that he was extremely demotivated when he was ignored for selection in the Delhi state side for the very first time. The Indian skipper spoke on how he kept himself motivated despite several rejections and low points during his career.
In an online session with students, Virat Kohli talked about various topics, ranging from those on the field to those off it. He specifically took the opportunity to encourage the students to take up any sport and not worry about the result.
He explained how he kept performing despite being constantly ignored by the selectors. He even revealed that he was emotionally overwhelmed on quite a few occasions and couldn't hold back his tears, although his love and passion for the game kept him going at all times.
"The first time I was rejected in the state selections, I remember it was late at night and I just cried. I howled till about three in the morning and I could not believe it," Kohli said.
“Because I scored well, everything was going perfectly for me. I performed till I reached that stage and I was rejected... And I kept asking my coach for two hours, why didn’t it happen? And I couldn’t make sense of it. But when there are passion and commitment, that motivation comes back to you," he added.
Virat Kohli had a testing tour of England in 2014
The Indian captain endured a torrid tour of England in 2014. He averaged only 13.40 in five Test matches. It was only after 1959 that India was playing England in five Tests. However, England came out victorious 3-1 in a one-sided series. Virat Kohli's wretched tour continued as he scored only 54 runs in following four ODIs, with 40 runs coming in one inning.
He explained that at that juncture, he thought too much about his individual performance, rather than thinking about the team. Subsequently, he found it tough to handle the pressure. He added that he was so demotivated that he thought about failure, even before going out to bat.
“That is one phase where I felt like, when as a batsman you know you are going to get out in the morning when you wake up. That was the time I felt like that there is no chance I am getting runs. And still to get out of bed and just get dressed for the game and to go out there and go through that, knowing that you will fail was something that ate me up," Kohli elaborated.
However, Virat Kohli added that keeping the white noise away helped him put in strong performances. He opined that ignoring the critics off the field helped him bounce back from the patchy phase.
Since then, Virat Kohli has repeatedly stated in interviews that he doesn't care what people and experts think about his game. Instead, he lets his bat do the talking.
“It just demolished me completely. And I promised myself I am never going to allow myself to feel like that ever again in life. I wanted to get runs. I could never think of what does the team want me to do in this situation. just got too engulfed with England tour — if I perform here, Test cricket, in my mind I’m going to feel established and all that crap on the outside, which is not important at all," Kohli concluded.
