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Monty Panesar says he had paranoia issues and people had lost patience with him
"That is life. When you have mental health issues people stay in denial for a long time and I did that," says Monty Panesar.
09 April 2016 • 5:30 PM
England left-arm spinner Monty Panesar has been making headlines with his return to domestic cricket. The southpaw has not played competitive cricket since Ashes 2013 Down Under. It was a calamitous series for England as the mighty Aussies whitewashed them, courtesy Mitchell’s Johnson’s superlative performance with the ball. Panesar was drafted in Northamptonshire’s squad for the forthcoming county season. His previous stint with Essex ended with a freakish incident, as he urinated on nightclub bouncers in Brighton in 2013 that saw him fined by Police. However, with his comeback for Northamptonshire, he will at least make headlines for the right reasons.
“I had paranoia issues. Mentally my confidence would go low and I would feel like my own teammates were out to get me,” Panesar told The Telegraph. After England’s drubbing, Panesar was low on confidence. He added, “Partly I was putting blame on myself for not reaching standards and if people confirmed that by saying I was not concentrating, then I would take that on board too much. I have learned I need to be kinder to myself and have more balance rather than be so self critical. I would get in a really dark place. I have had professional advice and treatment and maybe I could have saved myself at (previous county side) Essex if I had talked about it earlier and not hung back so late because by the time I did talk about (it), people had lost patience with me and were wondering why I was behaving like that.” Also read: England spinner Monty Panesar makes comeback for Northamptonshire
“That is life. When you have mental health issues people stay in denial for a long time and I did that. It took me a while to come out of that. “But I suddenly realised ‘why am I behaving so abruptly with people? My behaviour is not in check’. That is when I realised something was not right and I needed to get help. I just needed (to) talk through it and identify what was wrong. I have come out of that and I feel a lot better about myself. People are now saying to me that I am lot more together and more my old self.”
Panesar has donned England’s jersey in 50 Test matches and his numbers speak volumes about his bowling ability. He has scalped 167 wickets at a staggering strike-rate of 2.78. Now that Panesar is back to playing cricket, he’ll look to make a comeback in the England side as well.