'You were in touch with me, sensed something' - Virat Kohli appreciates Robin Uthappa for reaching out to him during his lean patch

Not only in Indian cricket but also in the IPL, Virat Kohli has returned to his former self, making the chatter and criticism surrounding his performance seem like a thing of the past. Kohli experienced a forgettable stretch between 2020 and the mid of 2022. The stalwart of Indian cricket, who was renowned for breaking records and scoring hundreds at will, found it difficult to reach the three-figure threshold across formats during that time.

Discussions regarding the end of Kohli's hegemony and criticism of his performance and position in the Indian squad peaked. And even though the 34-year-old recovered in top-notch style, as he always does, he had subsequently said MS Dhoni was the only one to have gotten in touch with him when he went through the rough patch.

However, on Monday, Kohli disclosed that it wasn't just Dhoni who reached out, and revealed that Robin Uthappa had also gotten in touch with him during the testing period. After stepping down from the captaincy role, Kohli thought that things would go his way with the pressure being off of him, but that did not happen as his poor form continued, until the Asia Cup 2022.

The official digital broadcasters of the IPL 2023, JioCinema, showed an interview between Kohli and Uthappa before RCB’s match against CSK on Monday, April 17, where he mentioned that the latter had been in touch with him, apart from Dhoni, and had contacted him.

“Because I was not in a space where I was comfortable with myself, I was looking for all kinds of excuses that it must be happening because of this and that or technical changes. But you were in touch with me at that point of time and, beyond a point, I figured out people cannot feel what I am feeling. You sensed something with my body language and asked 'Are you okay? Just wanted to check in on you.' That happened very rarely,” Kohli said.

When you are not right mentally, you are all over the place: Kohli

The former India and Royal Challengers Bangalore captain went on to say that Uthappa's action was significant since so many people had been giving him different options to break free without realising that his real issue was elsewhere. Speaking further about the same, he added:

“Everyone was like we observe this and this is the solution for it. I couldn't get the point across that whatever shortcoming is there is because of this (pointing towards his head). When you are not right mentally, you are all over the place. There were no technical issues because I have done this for 15 years. It can't be that all went to a standstill and the technical issues pop out right now. When I came back fresh and started hitting the ball again and people were like 'oh you made some serious changes'. But I didn't pick up the bat for six weeks.”

Earlier, while speaking about his lean patch and the struggling period of his career during a press conference, Kohli had said that MS Dhoni was the only person who reached out to him, apart from his coach and family members. During the recent conversation, Kohli also revealed that Dhoni, someone who never picks up his phone and has no clue where his phone usually is, was the one to make the call, which made Kohli realise how genuine his relation with the former India skipper was.

“The only person who, apart from my childhood coach and family, genuinely reached out to me has been MS Dhoni. He (Dhoni) reached out to me and you can rarely get in touch with him. If I call him on any random day, 99 per cent he will not pick up (the phone), because he just does not look at the phone. So, for him to reach out to me, twice it has happened now, and one of the things that he'd mentioned in the message while reaching out to me was that: 'when you are expected to be strong and looked at as a strong individual, people forget to ask how are you doing?',” Kohli had said.