MELBOURNE : Australian batter Peter Handscomb has opened up on his mental health struggles during his poor outings with the bat.
“I found those two platforms probably the worst in terms of people having direct access to you, to just randomly sledge you and take you down,”Handscomb told cricket.com.au.
Handscomb, who had made his Test debut in 2016 against South Africa in Adelaide, started his career at an average of 99.75 in his first four Tests, but was later dropped from the Australian team following a poor run of form in the longest format of the the game.
“When someone’s taking the time out to directly message you, calling you s**t or ‘How dare you be in the Australian side’ – that kind of stuff – it’s hard not to take that to heart, especially (given) I was quite young at the time,” he added.
Handscomb, who is currently leading Middlesex in the English County Championship, feels that he is better prepared to deal with the criticisms now.
“If that does happen again, and I am lucky enough to play for Australia again then, yeah, I think I’m better equipped to deal with everything that comes with it,” the 31-year-old further stated.
