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Dark and depressing! The other side of cricket is shocking

<p>The last suicide amongst Test cricketers was David Bairstow way back in 1998, but reports of players, including England spinner Monty Panesar, of enduring depression and paranoia are worrying</p>

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Monty Panesar

Monty Panesar

United Kingdom: Recently, there has been a great deal of interest in depressive illness and suicide amongst elite cricketers. Michael Henderson, reviewing former England opener Graham Thorpe's recently published autobiography, Rising from the Ashes, argued that depression was not only more frequent amongst elite cricketers but it was more severe in an article in The Cricketer magazine.

Earlier this year, India cricketer Suresh Raina openly spoke about feeling suicidal because of bullying whilst playing junior cricket. A few weeks ago, the former England left-arm spinner Monty Panesar spoke about his depressive illness and paranoia, which may have led to a premature end to his England career and sacking by three first-class counties. Earlier this week, Sarah Taylor, English women's wicketkeeper, took an indefinite break from cricket because of anxiety and panic attacks. Also, this week, the coroner returned a verdict of suicide for Tom Allin, a promising Warwickshire fast bowler, who killed himself earlier this year by jumping off a bridge. Last October, Durga Bhavani, a women's Ranji Trophy player for Andhra Pradesh, allegedly killed herself at the age of 25 years. David Frith, the famous cricket journalist and historian, described over a 100 suicide amongst elite cricketers in his two books.

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