I had lost everything: Salil Ankola

Salil Ankola. Pic/Satej Shinde

Usually, it's rare for people to admit their mistakes. However, former India pacer Salil Ankola showed courage by opening up about the struggles in his life, including alcoholism, and how he overcame them to make a comeback as a national selector.

Ankola, 58, who represented India in one Test and 20 ODIs between 1989 and 1997, spoke about his journey and struggles at Baazigar, a storytelling show organised by The Entertainment Factory at Mukti Munch in Versova on Sunday evening.

Ankola was 20 when he made his Test debut alongside 16-year-old Sachin Tendulkar against Pakistan in Karachi in 1989. Ankola was patient and detailed as he spoke for nearly two hours on Sunday: "After representing India in the 1996 ODI World Cup, I underwent an operation for a bone tumour in 1997. The doctor said that I would be ready in four months. But those four months never came. I realised I would not be able to play cricket anymore. At that time, Kapil paaji [Dev] had retired, Javagal Srinath was unfit and Manoj Prabhakar had been dropped, so there was a very good chance for me to cement my place in the Indian team. But my operation was unsuccessful and all my dreams came crashing down. I didn't know what to do. Somehow, I wanted to escape the pain."

Ankola hit the bottle during this phase. "I started drinking and it felt like it reduced my pain. From the time I left cricket in 1997 until 2010, I didn't watch a game, apart the one when we won the 2007 T20 World Cup. I had no idea who Virat Kohli or [Virender] Sehwag were. I was drinking continuously in 2006. By 2008, the quantity had risen dramatically. I had become obnoxious. It was about me, my bottle, and nothing else mattered."

Ankola underwent rehabilitation several times.

"When I went to rehab in 2010, I wanted to get away from the habit, but it wasn't easy. I had lost everything. When I was doing a TV serial, I had no house and was actually living on the road. I had just my car. I used to take bottles, park my car in the lanes at Bandra and sleep there, unaware that just two lanes away was Sachin's bungalow," Ankola said.

Ankola credited his wife, Dr Ria, with helping him make a comeback to cricket. "Ria insisted that I do something related to cricket. That's why I stopped drinking, became Mumbai chief selector. In 2023, I became an India selector. In 2024, we won the T20 World Cup [under Rohit Sharma's captaincy]. To contribute to India's World Cup triumph, not as a player but as a selector, somehow completed the circle of life for me," Ankola said.