Didn’t have guts to speak about mental health, nobody cared: Abhinav Mukund

With nearly 10,000 first-class runs under his belt, Abhinav Mukund has had an illustrious career for Tamil Nadu in the Indian domestic circuit. But somehow, he has had his travails whenever he donned the national jersey. In 7 Tests, the southpaw scored 320 runs with a couple of fifties. After last playing for India back in July 2017, Mukund hasn’t been in the reckoning for a national berth.

It was after he was dropped from Team India in 2011 after five Tests that Mukund went into a slump, from the psychological point of view. That he wasn’t picked even in IPL auctions added to his embarrassment and he resorted to playing Club Cricket in England. There were times when he headed for county matches only to be their 12th man, carrying drinks and gloves for GBP 30 a day.

It’s ok to take a break: Abhinav Mukund

It wasn’t abnormal for him to fear the worst himself at the age of 24. However, Mukund considers himself lucky as he didn’t fall prey to alcohol or drugs. Rather he allowed the stay away from India to enlighten him with a new perspective of life. Lately, he has urged people to not maintain silence on the sensitive matter and said that one should also take a break to come back rejuvenated.

“To my fellow sportspersons, I say, be honest to yourself. Try fighting it, try going back to why you started doing this in the first place, try to be resilient. But if all else fails and your conscience knows you cannot take it anymore, take a break. It’s ok to do so. I didn’t do it willingly but it helped me,” Mukund wrote in his exclusive column for Cricbuzz.

Mukund wants people to not maintain silence over mental health issues

During his rough patch, Mukund didn’t have the guts to speak about mental health issues as he reckoned that a handful of people would actually have cared for it. But he exemplified those people who conquered mental illness, differentiating them from the others.

“I didn’t have the guts to come out and say so, mostly because I thought nobody cared. This is why less than 10% of people suffering from mental health conditions have come out and the rest just carry on lugging heavy baggage along in today’s world,” the 29-year-old stated.

“Open up, don’t worry about what other people might think of you or what would happen to your career. Trust me, the sooner you are happier about doing what you do, the faster the road to success opens up,” Mukund added.

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