WTC final: Virat Kohli bats for player mental health management, welcomes 6-week gap

India skipper Virat Kohli emphasized the importance of the mental health of cricketers while adding that it is essential to regroup as a side ahead of the long Test summer in England after going through a host of Covid-19 protocols.

With a bio-secure environment taking a toll on the players mentally, Kohli said they will be given breaks to recover from that and not just for workload management.

“With the current structure and the kind of structure that you’re competing inside for a long period of time, it’s very difficult for the players to stay motivated and find the right kind of mental space,” Kohli said in the pre-departure press conference.

“You know just confined in one area and just doing the stuff, day in day out when you’re dealing with high-pressure situations. So, this (two squads) will definitely become a norm for the future,” he added.

The Indian team had to quarantine for 14-days here and will do a soft quarantine in the UK upon their arrival.

Players around the world have spoken about the challenges of playing tournaments after tournaments in bio-bubbles.

“Apart from the workloads, the mental health side of things will also come into the picture big time because you don’t have an outlet at all,” said Kohli.

“In today’s day and age you literally go into the ground, come back to the room, and you have no space where you can just disconnect from the game and just go out for a walk or go out for a meal or a coffee and say, Okay, Let me refresh myself.

“Let me just get away from the game a little bit so I think this is a huge factor that should not be neglected. Because as much hard work as we’ve done to create this team, you don’t want players falling out because of the mental pressures and not having the capacity or the space to express themselves.”

Kohli endorsed players asking for breaks to address mental health issues.

“So I think there has to always be a channel over which the management has left it for players to approach them and tell them, ”Look, I’m not feeling right in the head, and I just need a break and I just want to disconnect from the game”.

“So I think that’s going to be a huge factor and I’m sure that the management understands that,” said the skipper.