Recent tour to Australia, the most intense one to me: Virat Kohli

Without a doubt, Virat Kohli has been one of the best batters of the modern-day era, and his contributions in international cricket over the year speak levels of his prowess with the bat.

The India batter was a part of the squad that toured Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25, and after a terrific century in the first Test in Perth, the rest of the series was a rather forgettable one. Apart from the 100* in the Perth encounter, Kohli could garner a grand total of another 90 runs in the remaining four Tests and faced massive criticism. A few experts and fans even wanted the cricketer to retire from the format.

However, the Delhi-born recently spilled the beans on how the tour felt for Kohli as a batter, and despite trying his best to overcome the batting struggles, how he accepted the failure. Speaking at the RCB Innovation Lab Indian Sports Summit on Saturday, March 15, Kohli told that the intensity of the series down under has been among the most disappointing ones, and even compared it to the 2014 tour of England, where he had a similar rough patch.

“If you ask me the intensity of how disappointed I've been, the most recent Australia tour would be the one that's most fresh. So it might feel the most intense to me. For a long time, the tour of England in 2014 bothered me the most. But I can't look at it that way. I might not have an Australia tour again in four years. I don't know. You have to make peace with whatever's happened in your life. In 2014, I still had the chance to go in 2018 and do what I did. It might not have been the case. It might have been another blunder. But it didn't turn out that way," he said.

Just the acceptance of 'okay fine, this is what happened': Kohli

According to the man himself, the 36-year-old kept being at it only because he felt confident after a good knock in the series opener. Additionally, he was also honest enough to accept the fact that the tour Down Under didn't go as planned, but he wishes to calm things down for himself.

“Because I got a good score in the first Test. I thought, right, 'let's go.' There's going to be another big series for me. It didn't turn out that way. For me, it's just about the acceptance of, 'okay fine, this is what happened. I'm going to be honest with myself. 'Where do I want to go? What are my energy levels like?' I'm not sitting here in 48 hours or 72 hours-time to make a decision like 'let me go.' Spend time with family. Just sit down. Let everything calm down. And see how I feel in a few days,” Kohli added.

Also Read: Virat Kohli reveals reason behind social media inactivity

The ace batter will next be seen at the Indian Premier League, featuring for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the eighteenth edition of the mega tournament. As the premier batter of the side, Kohli would be hoping to turn the fate of the franchise and help them lift their long-awaited maiden trophy in the league.