Former India leg-spinner Amit Mishra has made a shocking revelation about a time in his career when he went into depression after getting dropped from the Indian team right after making his debut in 2003. Mishra made this claim during his recent chat with Aakash Chopra in the latter’s podcast named “Baith aur Bol”.
Amit Mishra had one of the most interesting, yet heartbreaking careers in Indian cricket. The former wrist-spinner made his national team debut in 2003 in an ODI match against South Africa but then he had to wait for six long years to play his next series in 2009.
Similarly in Test cricket, Amit Mishra represented the national side in 22 matches but those appearances were scattered. He made his debut against Australia in 2008 and then featured for India for the next three years consistently.
However, after the 2011 Test tour of England, Amit Mishra was dropped for exactly four years before returning to the side in 2015 and playing only two series after which he was dropped again.
At that time he lost his form and was subsequently dropped from domestic cricket as well. That somehow took a toll on his mental health as he slipped into depression for a year and half, wondering as to what went wrong in his career.
“I went into depression for a year and a half. I kept thinking about what my mistake was. I was playing everywhere, but the only question in my mind was that, what did I do wrong,” Amit Mishra said via Aakash Chopra’s Baith aur Bol podcast.
Mishra then revealed that he was not able to understand why he was dropped from the national side until a selector sat him down and pointed fingers at his domestic performances, which was a major reason behind his exodus.
“I had played for India but got dropped. Then I was not in the Duleep Trophy. I was not in the India A team for zonals. I could not understand what was happening with me. One season went badly. Then a selector told me that I was not performing. sat down and thought, and I understood that I was thinking of playing for India itself but not performing in domestic cricket,” Mishra added.
Performance was the only way out
The 43-year-old also confirmed that he had no one to talk to during his depression phase and his falling cricketing career was something he could not discuss about with his family. “I had nobody to talk to during my bad time, to be honest. I could not tell my family either. I could not discuss these things with anyone,” Mishra added.
The ex leg-spinner then realised that he has no option but to perform and force his way into the national team. And in the end, all it took was one good season for him to return to the team.
“I was on my own. But I realised that until I perform, things would not work. I was told to work on batting as well, and I did that too. I did decently well in one season, then I was picked for the Duleep Trophy. Then I realised this is how things will work. I had no godfather, so I knew I had to keep proving myself,” Amit Mishra concluded.
Mishra ended his career with 156 wickets across formats. In 22 Test outings, he registered 76 scalps. In ODI and T20Is, the former leg-spinner took 64 and 16 wickets respectively.