"Found myself sitting on window sill on 23rd floor" - Former India batter recalls scary incident during IPL 2009 amid battle with depression
Former India batter Robin Uthappa recalled a scary incident where he found himself sitting on the window sill on the 23rd floor of his room during the 2009 Indian Premier League (IPL) in South Africa amid his battle with depression. The 39-year-old subsequently called up his family and told them to join him as he knew that something was wrong with him.
Uthappa has been open about his battle with mental health and depression and has been a strong advocate of breaking the stigma around it. He opined that men are prone to suffer from emotional stress since they have a habit of not expressing themselves too much.
During his appearance on the Cyrus Says podcast, the former India cricketer shared details of his struggles with mental health. Elaborating on an eye-opening incident in South Africa during the 2009 IPL, he recalled:
"In 2009 is when I realized that something was wrong with me. I went to the 2009 IPL in South Africa and there was an episode where I found myself sitting on the window sill on the 23rd floor of my room and I am someone who is absolutely scared of heights. A thought went through my head where I thought, 'You could end all this at the count of three'.
"Then I think my subconscious mind kicked in and then suddenly I saw myself sitting there and I got scared. I was like - how am I sitting here? And why am I sitting here? Immediately, I got into my room, closed the window, called my mum up.
"As tenacious as things were at home, I said, 'I need you guys here. Something is wrong with me'. So, I flew my parents and my sister down to South Africa. They spent a couple of weeks with me and then knew that something was wrong," Uthappa added.
The former Karnataka batter admitted to undergoing counseling sessions to deal with the mental health issues that he was facing and asserted that the treatment helped him get back on his feet.
Robin Uthappa had a forgettable 2009 IPL
In the midst of battling his off-field demons, Uthappa had a poor IPL 2009, which was moved to South Africa since it coincided with the general elections in India that year.
Representing Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), the attacking right-handed batter managed to score only 175 runs in 15 matches at an average of 15.90 and a strike rate of 102.94, with a best of 66*.