Virat Kohli reacts to Ravi Shastri's 'overcooked' remark; 'Seen me from close quarters'

Former Team India captain Virat Kohli has responded to former head coach Ravi Shastri's suggestion of considering taking some time off the game by stating that the ex-India coach is one person who understands him extremely well. The 33-year-old has had an extremely difficult IPL 2022 campaign as he has only scored 236 runs in 13 matches, at a disappointing strike rate of 19.67.

Virat Kohli opens up on taking time off cricket

While speaking to Star Sports in an interview, Virat Kohli replied, "It's not a lot of people who mentioned it (taking a break)," when asked what he made of Ravi Shastri's comments. "There is one person precisely who has mentioned it which is Ravi bhai and that's because he has seen from close quarters over the last six-seven years the reality of the situation that I have been in."

Kohli decided to not only give up his captaincy of Royal Challengers Bangalore at the end of the last IPL season but also of Team India entirely. The 33-year old explained that he was doing so because leading the side in all formats was exhausting.

On the same, he went on to add, "The amount of cricket that I have played and the ups and downs and the toll that it takes on you to play three formats of the game plus the IPL for 10-11 years non-stop with the seven years of captaincy in between..."

The former Indian skipper's comments arise after Shastri had highlighted on Star Sports that Kohli was 'overcooked,' and hence, needed a break from the game. "I am going straight to the main guy here. Virat Kohli is overcooked. If anyone needs a break, it's him. Whether it's 2 months or a month-and-a-half, whether it's after England or before England," said the 59-year old.

When it came to taking a break, Kohli said that he is open to the idea as he said,

"It is definitely a thing that one needs to consider because you don't want to do something which you are not a part of 100 percent and I have always believed in that in my life. So to take a break and when to take a break is obviously something that I need to take a call on, but it is only a healthy decision for anyone to take some time off and just rejuvenate yourself mentally and physically.

Not so much physically because physical fitness you keep up with through the course of playing cricket all the time, but it is a mental kind of reset that you need, and you want to be excited for what you are doing. You don't want to feel like you have been forcing yourself into any situation.

So, I don't think there is anything wrong in that. It's a very healthy thing to think of especially with the amount of cricket that we play nowadays and the amount of cricket that I have played in the last 10-11 years as I mentioned. It's only a thing of creating a balance and finding that balance which is right for you as an individual moving forward and I'll definitely discuss this with all the people involved - Rahul bhai, the Indian team management, everyone to chart out whatever is best for myself and for the team definitely."