'What did I do wrong?': How being dropped from India team pushed ex-star into depression

NEW DELHI: Being dropped from the Indian team was one of the toughest phases of Amit Mishra's cricket career. The former India leg-spinner has revealed that he battled depression for 18 months because he could not understand why he was not getting chances to play for the country.Mishra made his international debut in 2003. However, he soon found himself out of the Indian team. He was also not picked for some domestic tournaments.

Despite continuing to play cricket, he kept wondering why he was being left out.Speaking to former India batter Aakash Chopra, Mishra opened up about how the setback affected him.“I went into depression for a year and a half. I kept thinking about what my mistake was. I was playing everywhere, but the only question in my mind was that, ‘what did I do wrong?’" Mishra said.A selector's advice helped Amit MishraMishra was also left out of the Duleep Trophy and the India A zonal setup.

He struggled to understand why he was not getting opportunities until a selector spoke to him about his performances.“Then a selector told me that I was not performing. I sat down and thought, and I understood that I was thinking of playing for India itself but not performing in domestic cricket," he recalled.The selector's words made Mishra think about his approach. He realised that he was thinking too much about returning to the Indian team and not focusing enough on performing in domestic cricket.Mishra returned to domestic circuit, worked on his game, and his performances eventually helped him return to the Indian team in 2008, almost five years after his debut.He went on to play 22 Tests, 36 ODIs and 10 T20Is for India.

He claimed taking 156 wickets across the three formats.Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.