File photo of Jhye Richardson (centre) with KL Rahul© BCCI/IPL
Mental health is one issue that has been discussed a lot in elite sports in the last few years. While many chose to deal with it silently, some have been brave enough to accept it openly. Australia bowler Jhye Richardson is one such player. He was part of the IPL in 2021 and 2024. He has now said that during the 2021 IPL, when he played for Punjab Kings - a team that had KL Rahul, Chris Gayle, Mohammed Shami among others - when he suffered the most.
"A lot of it started during COVID. My trip to the IPL – I left home not in the headspace that I probably should have been," Richardson told cricket.com.au.
"Then things sort of hit the fan while I was away, and everything with COVID and not being able to get home and stuff like that, it just toppled on top of each other.
"I think you don't realise what sort of space you're in until it becomes too much, which is why now I encourage a lot of young cricketers to work on their mental health – even if they think that they're going okay.
"It's like practicing for the short ball. The more you practice the short ball, the better you're going to be at it when that situation arises out in the middle. It's very similar off the field."
Richardson, who has played three Tests, 15 ODIs and 18 T20Is, is eyeing a return in Tests. Earlier, the situation was so grave that Richardson felt the need of "professional intervention."
"Everything just got to a point where there was some professional intervention that needed to happen. I'm not willing to go into a whole lot of detail, but I just landed in a spot where things were bad enough that I stepped back and said, 'I can't continue thinking the way that I am' and (needed) to get a bit more education and knowledge about how the brain works."
Richarson lauded Western Australia for lending a helping hand. "A lot of the judgment has gone nowadays. Within our (WA) group we trust everyone with the way that they want to go about things. People are individuals – they train different ways, they think differently," he said.
"The resources within cricket nowadays make the process of dealing with mental health issues a lot easier and there is a lot more education there.
"But as someone who has dealt with anxiety, not just on the field but away from cricket and day-to-day living, it can be quite exhausting."