BENGALURU: The iconic Virat Kohli believes stepping away from the game at regular intervals has helped him stay mentally fresh and avoid burnout as he started the 2026 season by carving out his 28th IPL half-century.
Kohli's 38-ball 69, studded with five sixes and as many fours, powered Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a comfortable six-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL season opener on Saturday.
Playing his first T20 since last season's IPL final, Kohli showed little sign of rust, underlining how stepping away at regular intervals has helped him sustain peak performance despite a packed international schedule over the years.
Addressing concerns about being underprepared after a 10-month gap from the format, Kohli said the bigger challenge for him had always been avoiding burnout.
"Well, you know, the kind of scheduling that we've had over the last 15 years and the amount of cricket I've played, for me there was always a risk of getting burnt out rather than being undercooked. So these breaks helped me immensely. I stay fresh, I stay excited."
The 37-year-old stressed that he never returns to competitive cricket unless he is more than 100 percent.
"Whenever I come back to play, it's 120%. I'm not coming back, you know, underprepared. In fact, the extra rest helps me to mentally freshen up."
For Kohli, it is important to perform and not just hold onto a place.
"As long as you're physically fit and you're excited mentally, all those things come together nicely and then you're able to, you know, contribute for the team's cause and that's what you want to do as a player. You don't want to hold on to a spot.
"You want to keep performing and, you know, keep putting in the work for the team," he added.
Reflecting on his return to T20 cricket, Kohli said recent white-ball outings had helped him retain rhythm despite a gap in the shortest format.
"It was good to get back out there. You mentioned T20 cricket. The last game I played was the final last year but I think the way I batted in the one-day series quite recently really helped me to stay in that same kind of momentum.
"I wasn't playing shots that I don't usually play so I knew as long as I have the rhythm and I've put enough work physically behind the scenes with my fitness, things should come together nicely and tonight was another chance to start strong and to build on this," he said.