India star Virat Kohli has revealed he was "feeling mentally down" and "trying to fake my intensity" before taking a break from cricket ahead of the Asia Cup.
Kohli has not played since India's tour of England came to an end and said he did not pick up a bat for a whole month for the first time in ten years as he skipped series against the West Indies and Zimbabwe in order to focus on his mental health.
The 33-year-old has been struggling for form in recent years, having not scored an international century since 2019, and recently relinquished the captaincy across all three formats. Kohli is now set to return to action in the Asia Cup with India due to face rivals Pakistan in their opening match on Sunday.
Ahead of his return, Kohli has opened up about his mental health, powerfully stating that "faking being strong is far worse than admitting to being weak". In an interview with Star Sports, Kohli said: "For the first time in ten years, I did not touch my bat for a month.
"When I sat down and thought about it I was like, 'wow, I haven't touched a bat for like 30 days'. I haven't ever done that in my life.
"I came to the realisation that I was kind of trying to fake my intensity a bit recently, 'you know you can do that, you are competitive' and you are convincing yourself 'no I have the intensity'. But your body is telling you to stop and your mind is telling you to just take a break and step back.
"I am looked at as a guy who has been very mentally strong and I am. But everyone has a limit and you need to recognise that limit otherwise things can get unhealthy for you.
"This period actually taught me a lot of things that I was not allowing to come to the surface. When it surfaced, I embraced it.
"There's much more to life than just your profession. Somewhere you start losing perspective as a human being. The love and support [I get] drives me, but that cannot be the representation of who I am. The demands of the position cannot be the representation of who I am.
"I am not shy to admit that I was feeling mentally down and 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' or 'weak people'. Trust me, faking being strong is far worse than admitting to being weak."
