5 famous cricketers who dealt with mental health issues

The world keeps fighting with the most terrible forms of fear behind the curtains, and one doesn’t know what is bothering him or her. How dreadful is a situation which constantly affects a person’s mind without showing even one symptom physically on the human body? Yes, ‘Mental Health’ issues are like this only.

Disorders like depression, anxiety, stress have taken a brutal toll over people’s mind in the current scenario, and cricketers are no different in this regard. Cricket is physically as well as a mentally exhausting sport.

Everything is a bed of roses till the time you are performing but when you start lacking even a bit, the real deal begins. The player is not only removed from his side, but constant pointing from people around pushes him/her in a dark hole.

Let’s look at 5 famous cricketers who dealt with mental health issues:

1. Marcus Trescothick

England cricketer Marcus Trescothick, who announced retirement back in 2006 dealt with mental health issues during the peak of his career. In between the tour of India, the cricketer suddenly went back home and came back later to announce that he was dealing with depression.

The ace batsman who had maximum centuries to his credit from the English side had to call it quits due to the mental health issues. He later revealed in an interview that his depression is not over, he is still not cured, I have a good and bad day,s and when this gets over, I know how to return and act.

“I thought I was going to die. And having to deal with that was a nightmare. When it happened again I had much more understanding. I knew I’d feel fine when I got home,” the England international had revealed.

2. Virat Kohli

Known as one of the finest batsmen of the current times, one cannot believe that King Kohli has also gone through a phase where he struggled with mental health issues. He has reserved the top slot in the list of ICC ODI best batsman.

However, failure in England in 2014 pushed Kohli in a dark role, and he didn’t know what to do further. The ace batsman even revealed that it was the phase where he thought ‘it’s the end of the world’.

He didn’t know what to do, what to say, and even how to communicate with anybody. Kohli now believes it’s wise to have rest days and keep your mind at peace. Kohli also appreciated Australian stalwart Glenn Maxwell’s decision of taking a sabbatical and then returning back to cricket.

3. Jonathan Trott

He is yet another England player who struggled with serious mental health issues. The 34-year old was part of his squad during Ashes in 2013 but decided to end his career abruptly. At the same time, he stated the reason as ‘long-standing stress-related condition’

The top-order batsman refused to talk on his condition further. The situation was so ugly that he didn’t even like to entertain the question when somebody asked him about his mental condition.

He replied in frustration that ‘he wasn’t mad’. After retiring from international formats, he was indulged in county cricket but had to even leave that last year due to an anxiety disorder.

4. Sarah Taylor

Wonder woman of England’s cricket team Sarah Taylor has also been the victim of mental health disorders. The -batwoman was instrumental behind England’s T20 World Cup victory in 2009 and 50-overs World Cup win in 2017.

She was a stunner while donning the role of wicket-keeper, and has 232 dismissals on her name, the highest in woman cricket so far. However, what is hard to believe that she kept suffering from mental issues all this while and took a lot of breaks in between.

She finally hung her boots last year stating her anxiety as the reason, and it came as a shocker for the rest of the world. She said ‘I know it’s been a tough decision, but I know it’s the right one’.

5. Andrew Flintoff

Former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff is also one of many players who were caught in hands of depression. Having played more than 200 international games, he has more than 700 runs and 400 wickets to his credit. He opens about suffering from depression during 2006-07 when the English side was whitewashed in Ashes in Australia.

He has been quite open about accepting his mental health conditions and said he couldn’t understand what was happening to him. He also shared that he was drinking over limits during the 2007 World Cup, and when he couldn’t understand anything, he simply used to drink. He accepted being on anti-depressants for quite some time.

To fight your demons while dealing with mental trauma and come back strong is the actual game, but everybody simply can’t. Cricket Boards around the world should start prioritizing player’s mental health conditions in the best possible manner