The Indian skipper, Virat Kohli has went on to praise Glenn Maxwell’s decision to take a break from cricket owing to mental health issues. Last month, the latter deiced to opt-out of cricket for some time citing mental health difficulties.
Speaking ahead of the first Test against Bangladesh in Indore, Kohli said that he himself had battled similar situations in the past. He said, “You know when you get to the international stage, every player that’s in the squad needs that communication – that ability to speak out. I think what Glenn has done is remarkable. He set the right example for cricketers all over the world. If you are not in the best frame of mind, you try, try and try, but as human beings, you reach a tipping point at some stage or the other and you need time.”
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The India captain went through a rough patch during India’s tour to England in 2014 where he only managed to score 134 runs in 10 innings.
Talking about his own struggle to deal with the dip in form, Kohli said during that tour of England, he did not know what to do and what to say. Virat said “In England 2014, I didn’t know what to do, what to say to anyone, how to speak, how to communicate. And to be honest, I couldn’t have said ‘I am not feeling great mentally and I need to get away from the game’ because you never know how that’s taken.”
Virat also pointed out the fact that when an individual is not feeling like he can carry on anymore, it is important to take time off.
Kohli concluded, “Not to say that you give up but just to gain more clarity, you tend to take a bit more space which, in my opinion, is quite acceptable and quite a nice thing to do when you are not able to carry on anymore. I think these things should be respected and not taken in a negative way at all. It’s just not having the capacity to deal with things that can happen to any person to any walk of life. I think it should be taken in a very positive way.”
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India will be locking horns with Bangladesh for the first Test of the three-match series at the Holkar stadium in Indore from Thursday.
