Ravichandran Ashwin is one of the best spinners of the world and recently, he became the second Indian bowler to take 500 test wickets but there was a time in the year 2017 when he was thinking of quitting cricket and doing something else in life.
In recent times, the Indian spinner gave an interview in which he talked about how constant pressure of performing well can have an adverse effect on a professional cricketer’s mental health. He said that there are layers of mental health, while some give in to pressure, some get tired after being on the road all the time. He added that there are times when a person is in very dark place of life and he wants to talk to someone and mostly in such situations, a person finds himself in a place of victim which is quite dangerous in his opinion.
He adds that though he has the support of his family and he can come back to them, still there are many things which he can’t say. According to Ashwin, overall cricket is a corporate affair with very little features of government organizations. He says that whenever he talks about the corporate things to his father, he will say that it is all politics which is a big line but even fans end up doing the same thing. He says that on few occasions whenever he has found himself in a dark spot, he has also done that a little but it is not the right thing to do because this makes you feel that someone is getting success very easily but it is not true.
Ravichandran Ashwin stated that he was not able to give time to his family and during one discussion, his father said something to him which made him cry.
Ashwin said that his wife is a great listener but she has a very young family to handle and he was not giving enough time to his family. He said that one fine day, they were having a conversation and his father said something to him and in return, he also said something as they both fight a lot. He said that in the end, his father said to him that he (Ashwin) is very honest and straightforward because of which he is getting screwed.
Ashwin thinks that he is very strong but that day, he locked himself and started crying, he cried for a long time as he didn’t expect his father to say such a thing and most probably he (father) didn’t even realize what he said.
He said that he felt that his family is going through a lot because of him, he locked himself in the room, stopped watching cricket and his room was dark all the time.
R Ashwin said that he decided to quit cricket and do something else, most probably pursuing MBA and then making a career in marketing. He thought about other options as well but then he chose to get external help (counseling) in order to get complete clarity. The spinner said that the decision of taking external help changed his life for better and today he is happy that he took outsider’s view into his life.
Well, counseling can be helpful for not just cricketers but everyone whenever they feel stuck in life.