IPL 2022: The day my drive goes away, I'll not be playing this game: Virat Kohli

Bengaluru, May 19: Royal Challengers Bangalore's (RCB) star batter and former Team India captain Virat Kohli has not had the best in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 season.

However, that has not deterred his spirit. The former RCB captain opened up on his current form and how he maintains a positive frame of mind.

RCB square off with IPL 2022 table-toppers Gujarat Titans in Match 67 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday (May 19) to keep their play-offs hope alive.

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"My experiences are sacred to me. Whatever I've experienced in this phase or in the past as well, one thing I can vouch for is that I've never valued myself more as a person.

"Because I'm experiencing now that there's a big sense of the identity that's created by the world for you, which is far more different and so far away from the reality of you as a human being. So, what I'm experiencing now is that I'm valuing myself and I care for my own well-being way more I would've in the past," Kohli said on Star Sports (official broadcaster of IPL 2022) show Inside RCB, while opening up up on his current frame of mind and how does he cope with such a dip in form.

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The ex-India skipper dwelled further on his current frame of ming ahead of the crunch IPL 2022 fixture.

"I'm actually in the happiest phase of my life. I'm not finding any self-worth or value in what I do on the field. I'm way past that phase. This is a phase of evolution for me. Not to say that I don't have the same drive, my drive will never die down.

"The day my drive goes away, I'll not be playing this game. But to understand that somethings are not controllable, the only controllable you've are things that you can work towards, which is working hard on the field and in life as well and from that point of view," he added.

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The till-now poster boy of Indian cricket, had a special message to his fans as well.

"I want to thank everyone for the love and support that you've showered us with. This year, as a team, we still've one game to go and things to look forward to, so please come and support us and send us all your energy and positivity to propel us forward and to people regardless for the teams you support or who they come to support in this stadium.

"I know for a fact that I have received so much love, care and compassion from all my fans from every corner of the country. I'll be forever grateful and thankful for that because that's shown me a very different side of the connect that the fans have experienced with me over the years.

"I can only be grateful for that because that isn't something you can structure, it's a natural occurrence and I'm very grateful that this natural bond is formed between myself and the people who like what I do and who've loved what I did over the years and I'll always be grateful for that."

The RCB vs GT pre-match show starts on Star Sports and Hotstar at 6.30pm. The match begins at 7.30pm IST.