Home
Cricket News
Had Mental Health Issues Have Sought Support To Resolve Them Myself Veda Krishnamurthy

Had mental-health issues & have sought support to resolve them myself: Veda Krishnamurthy

India women’s team player Veda Krishnamurthy suffered a huge loss after her mother and sister succumbed to COVID-19. The Indian cricketer in a chat with ESPNcricinfo said that she was completely destroyed and all the other family members were broken.

“I’m a big believer in what destiny holds for you, but I really hoped that my sister would come back home. When she didn’t, I was completely destroyed. All of us were broken to pieces,” Krishnamurthy told ESPNcricinfo.

“…I still had to put up a brave face for the rest of the family. What I had to do in those testing couple of weeks was learn to tune myself out of my grief. But it keeps coming back to haunt you,” she said.

The middle-order batter revealed that she has herself struggled with mental health issues.

Veda was also removed from the list of centrally contracted players for 2020-21. Besides Veda, who was in Grade C last year, Ekta Bisht (Grade B), Anuja Patil and D. Hemlatha (both Grade C) have also been excluded.

“A lot of people who are playing cricket currently know what mental health is, but it is also important to accept that if the system is not doing anything to offer you mental-health assistance, you can and must find the support for yourself if you can afford it,” she said.

“I’ve had mental-health issues and I’ve sought support to resolve them myself,” she added.

Veda has played 48 ODIs and 76 T20Is for the team but unfortunately won’t be travelling to the UK with the team. India are slated o play a one-off Test against England and three ODIs and as many T20Is on the tour.

Discover more

Veda Krishnamurthy

Former Indian umpire Piloo Reporter seeks one-time benefits from BCCI

Former Indian umpire Piloo Reporter, who stood in 14 Tests, 22 ODI matches in the period between 1982 to 94 has sought a chunk of the one-time benefit created by the BCCI from the earning made of the Indian Premier League. Talking to TOI, Reporter reminded the BCCI of the hard works they have put in for the game and the country and hence they should be compensated at the end of the career in line with the benefits handed out to former cricketers as well. “This one-time benefit is given in appreciation of your services to the game. If it’s not given after retirement, then when? It would be very much appreciated by us if we also get what former players are getting. If the retired players are getting lakhs or crores as a one-time pay-off, what’s wrong in the umpires getting it? We’ve also served the game,” Reporter said TOI. “We’ve put in more hours than the players. The players could go back to the pavilion after playing and relax, while the umpire puts in six and a half hours every day in a Test, and seven hours in an ODI. It would be nice to have our contribution remembered too.” However, he confirmed that the BCCI is giving pension to umpires such as him since the year 2004 that also includes reimbursement of medical expenses up to Rs 5 lakh. He confirmed his pension amount of Rs 22,500 but also complained of no increase in the amount in the last five years.

There is smaller pool of countries with infrastructure to host men's events: ICC

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided that the hosts for the ICC events will be decided by the board and not by the open bidding process for the next rights cycle from 2023-2031. The process of selecting the hosts for the men’s events which now includes the Champions Trophy as well apart from the World Cup and World T20 will start this month while the process for U19 and women’s events will begin in November. “It will be an opportunity to engage with a wider range of Members including first-time hosts,” the ICC said. "The revised approach to selecting hosts for our events will give us much more flexibility to grow the game and engage new fans," the ICC's acting chief executive Geoff Allardice said. "There is a smaller pool of countries with the infrastructure needed to host our senior Men's events which narrows the selection process. Additionally, many of our Members expressed interest in hosting Women's and U19 events which gives us a great opportunity to stage events in established and emerging cricket nations." Earlier, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had opposed the ICC’s new bidding process for the same. The Indian board had made the argument that a very small number of the members have the infrastructure to host the events of this importance.

We can best prepare ourselves for Ashes by winning matches against NZ & Ind: Joe Root

England begin their long Test summer with the two-match series against New Zealand at home on Wednesday (June 2, 2021) at Lord’s. The English team will then take on India in a five-match series on home soil. Captain Joe Root is seeing the two Test series at home as a build up to Ashes and has further added that a clean sweep win against both the sides will give his team a lot of confidence. "There are going to be constant conversations about Australia throughout this whole summer, there is no getting away from that," Root told reporters. "It is of utmost importance, absolutely. But the way we are best going to prepare ourselves is by performing well in these seven Tests, by winning seven Test matches against the best two sides in the world," he added. Root further said that he couldn’t have asked for better opponents to go ahead with the preparations. "You couldn't be asking for two better opponents right now - to take on the best is what sport is all about and every Test means a hell of a lot to our players and to me. These Tests are our full focus." While England will host both New Zealand and India, the two sides will lock horns with each other in the final of the inaugural World Test Championship in Southampton with the encounter scheduled to begin from June 18. The Ashes on the other side will begin on December 8 in Brisbane.

All you hear is Steve Smith testing his bats if you share hotel room with him: Warner

Former Australia skipper Steve Smith has been one of the most consistent run-scorers in the past few years and his teammate David Warner has now revealed Smith’s obsession for his bats. In an interview with Fitzy & Wippa Warner said that the right-handed batsman is generally heard tapping and testing his bats in the hotel room at odd hours of the day. “A little insight to Steve Smith when you’re in a hotel room. If he’s above you, you ain’t sleeping. All you hear is the tapping all the time. You think it’s the cleaners coming in at midnight. You’re like, ‘Nah, that’s just Steve testing his bats,” Warner said. “He likes to feel the weight, but he likes to close his eyes, and yeah, that’s how he does it,” added Warner. The left-hander revealed another superstition of Smith relating to his thigh pad. “It’s just so common, Steve, that he put his whites on to actually work out if his thigh pad was going to fit in his pants. I’m worried about my box, not my thigh pad,” Warner said. The Indian Premier League 2021 was suspended on May 4 after there was a rise in COVID-19 cases within the franchise teams. Teams in both venues of Ahmedabad and New Delhi had covid cases amongst them, but the Board of Control for Cricket in India have firmly denied any possibilities of a bio-bubble breach. Warner who was the captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise before getting sacked from his post explained how terrifying the situation had turned in the country. “You know, people on the streets lining up to cremate their family members, and we did see that a couple of times going to and from the grounds,” he said. “Open fields and stuff. You know, it was terrifying. And it was just really upsetting from a humanitarian point of view,” Warner added. The Australian opener and other players who were a part of the IPL 2021 were released from a two-week of hotel quarantine in Sydney. The contingent had initially been flown to the Maldives before they were flown to Sydney by a charter flight. Meanwhile, the BCCI has decided to shift the remainder of the IPL 2021 to the UAE but the schedule is yet to be announced.