Mumbai: Ex-Pakistani pacer Shoaib Akhtar, often referred to as the ‘Rawalpindi Express’, has widely been touted as one of the best fast bowlers to come out of the Asian sub-continent and rightfully so. In his distinguished career, the bowler has scalped 178 wickets in 46 Tests, 257 wickets in 163 ODIs and 19 wickets in 15 T20Is.
Akhtar was one of the most aggressive bowlers of his time and used to terrify the batsmen who played against him. He could have had an even better career, but injuries to his wrist and back played spoilsport and brought his career to a premature halt.
At present, the 44-year-old has his own YouTube account wherein he shares his cricketing knowledge to his fans as well his opinions on several topics revolving cricket. This time around, Akhtar opened up about how he became a victim of depression ever since retiring back in 2011.
In a chat with ex-teammate Mohammad Hafeez, Akhtar said that he was under severe depression for about six months. He said, “I was under severe depression for six months, I’ll be honest with you.” He added “After I left cricket, I was under serious depression for a good six to seven months. I did not come out of my house for six to seven months.”
Shoaib Akhtar is not the only one to speak about their mental health in recent times. Australian cricketers Glenn Maxwell and Nic Maddison took a break from international cricket citing depreciating mental health, while Indian captain Virat Kohli also revealed recently about how he had gone through a similar situation after struggling with his bad phase back in 2014.
