Beyond the Game: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and the silent battle of mental health in sports

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. (AFP Image)

In exactly five days from now India will be leaving for Australia for a white ball tour. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will both be part of it. On world mental health day the question to ask is what state will they be in when they travel down under? What about their mental health? Will Rohit put on a calm and relaxed persona like he did at the CEAT awards and try and suggest that it is all fine and he is all focussed and ready? Or will he open up and confess that there is pressure and it can surely impact an athletes mental health? At a time when social media is on overdrive, is it at all possible for an athlete to stay calm and just focus on training? Can Rohit insulate himself from all the outside noise or is it even fair to ask for such a thing to happen? The very same questions should be asked of Virat. Is it human to ask him to block out all the retirement talk and just focus on the job at hand?

The attempt in life is always is to portray things as normal. That everything is as they are and there isn’t an issue. The question to ask is why? If Rohit or Virat comes out as says that all this speculation is impacting their mental health will they be looked upon as weak? Is it still a taboo to openly speak on the subject? Why can’t athletes openly speak about it and behave like normal human beings? Why do they have to portray themselves as superhuman with attributes that aren’t really natural?

The truth is it is still not okay for athletes to come out openly and say that things aren’t always okay. They are scared. They are worried about a possible backlash, what the fans will say and more importantly how the Board or the Federation will react. Mental health issues aren’t still normal in our society. It is still not the same as having a fever or a headache. Depression is still considered something rare or different and talk around it isn’t a normal tea time conversation.

That’s where days like this make a difference. They allow us all an opportunity to discuss subjects of key importance and draw peoples attention to an issue that impacts each and every one of us. Anyone who says he or she has not faced mental health challenges isn’t really human and in all honesty such a statement isn’t really true. However successful, each person has had his or her share of challenges and will continue to do so. On world mental health day, it is essential that we all agree to speak about such issues openly in the public domain not just today but on all days going forward. If we do so, society will be better for it.

Coming back to sport, the more elite athletes open up on mental health challenges the better it is for fans who idolise such icons. Fans will know that it is okay to be not okay and will start to inculcate such truths in their lives. Icons can and should lead the way and today can be a very good starting point.