Virat Kohli recalls 'horrible hangover' after heartbreaking 2019 ICC World Cup loss

Mayank Bande

Virat Kohli recalls 'horrible hangover' after heartbreaking 2019 ICC World Cup loss image

(getty)

In the past decade, India went through a lot of heartbreaks, especially in the ICC events, before the floodgates opened up in 2024 after the T20 World Cup.

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One of those heartbreaks came in the 2019 World Cup where India—heading into the semi-final had only lost a solitary match and had a real chance at winning a trophy.

However, the semi-final in Manchester went completely south as India capitulated with the bat while chasing 240 runs in the second innings and got bundled over for just 221 runs.

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India’s then-captain, Virat Kohli, spoke up about how the loss affected him personally and what the aftermath of the loss looked like for him.

READ MORE: Virat Kohli reveals why MS Dhoni trusted him to bat at No. 3 for India - 'Was never looked at as a match winner'

What did Virat Kohli say about the 2019 World Cup loss?

Speaking with Mayanti Langer on the podcast for the RCB YouTube, the former RCB skipper opened up on how it felt like a hangover to wake up the next morning after the loss against New Zealand.

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“The 2019 loss was massive, that was the first time actually after the semifinals got over, and the next morning we were going to leave Manchester. You know, when you wake up and you have no kind of understanding of what you want to do, like you’re dazed. It was like the feeling you get when you have a horrible hangover. It was like that,” said Kohli

“Like I had no idea what I wanted to do, whether I wanted to drink coffee, brush my teeth, like, what is the next step? Like, I was completely gone. I could not make sense of it,” he added.

He further emphasized on the fact that, despite these losses, life goes on and one needs to keep moving, no matter how tough it gets on the days like these.

“Everything was fine. We had to play in the afternoon, and it rained, and then we had to come the next morning, early morning conditions, this, that and the others. I was like, what are the odds, but then again, how things unfolded again.” Virat continued.

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“You have to kind of go back into that space of looking at things. You can't get lost in what happened to me, and this is what I'm going through. Maybe it was meant to be that way. You just have to accept things the way, of course, accepting is very hard to process. It is very hard, but you have to get to that point and you have to keep moving,” he concluded.

Mayank Bande

Mayank Bande has been a content producer at The Sporting News since 2023 and has extensive experience in cricket writing. His work has previously appeared on platforms like OneCricket and Last Word on Sports. Beyond cricket, Mayank closely follows football as an FC Barcelona supporter, along with tennis and Olympic sports. Despite holding a degree in Business Administration, he chose to pursue a career in sports, bringing sharp analysis to his writing as someone who once played cricket.