Former BCCI chairman of selectors MSK Prasad has suggested that the mental health break which Virat Kohli took before the Asia Cup 2022 helped him to regain his form. The batting maverick has been in phenomenal form after the break as he smashed his maiden T20I century in Asia Cup against Afghanistan and then followed up the form in the 2022 T20 World Cup where he ended up as the leading run-getter. He played one of the best knocks of his T20I career against Pakistan in the group stage match of the T20 WC with an 82-run* knock which rescued India from a difficult situation.
The batting maverick also started 2023 with a bang as he has already scored two centuries in three ODIs.
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Prasad said that the break and understanding himself which helped him a lot to get back the vintage Kohli back and suggested that he needed that more than anything at that point.
“I feel the break has actually pushed his career forward by 4-5 years. He is that sort of character who needs challenges, and he has accepted that challenge and gone through. He took a lovely break and he understood himself well and we have got back the Virat Kohli of the old. He actually needed a mental break more than anything else,” MSK Prasad told Rediff in an interview.
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Before Asia Cup 2022, Kohli’s last international century came way back in 2019 against Bangladesh in a Day-night Test match. Prasad feels that the pressure was piling up on Kohli during the lean patch and he should have taken a break after the 2021 T20 World Cup where India failed to enter the semifinal.
“He had a little bit of a tough time, but he kept on playing so that has piled up a lot. I felt he should have taken a break long time back, maybe soon after the (T20) World Cup (2021). Ever since he has taken the break before the Asia Cup (in 2022), we have got back the original Virat Kohli, whom we saw scoring lot of runs like in 2016,” Prasad said.
“He is at his best now, he is in the right frame of mind. I am sure the tough times he has gone through in the last couple of years will only make him a better player and a stronger personality,” he concluded on the matter.
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