Virat Kohli talks about players' burnout at length amid strenuous schedule

Cricket is following an extremely exhausting schedule post the second wave of COVID-19. The bio bubbles have become a mandatory part of players’ life and players have been staying in that for a prolonged period now. In the same line of events, Indian skipper Virat Kohli has warned cricket boards regarding players’ burnout. It is known to all that even IPL 2021 and T20 WC didn’t have any time between them and all this is taking a toll on players’ mental health.

Kohli added that they have talked a lot about bubble life but players keep on going because every day there is a new challenge in front. Several cricket boards particularly those that are the rich ones have been organizing back-to-back series for their players. In between, several players have backed out asking for a mental health break.

“We’ve spoken a lot about this [bubble life]. The good thing is we’ve played a tournament like the IPL. Every day you have a new challenge in front of you. The tournament builds up and you are working towards a goal. Similarly, the World Cup too brings the same motivation, you are playing a multi-national event, you are playing against various teams – some of them you’ve never gotten a chance to play against. These things allow you to keep the focus,” said Kohli as quoted by cricket.com

If you lose players then world cricket is not going to be better off: Virat Kohli

Kohli pointed an important aspect by stating that a lot of time was lost due to the pandemic but playing cricket like this, world cricket can lose players as well. Also, everybody is just not feeling the same all the time. If 4-5 players are laughing in a group, doesn’t mean all 15-16 are feeling the same and there needs to be communication.

“But going forward, I understand we’ve lost some time without cricket but in trying to cover that up, if you lose players then world cricket is not going to be better off. So there has to be a balance in the future. Players also have to be spoken to. In a bio-bubble, you can’t say which player is in what situation. Just because five-six players are laughing around, doesn’t mean all the 15-16 are feeling the same. It’s important to have communication with players and give them a period where they can mentally refresh themselves and come into such an environment once more to compete,” he added.