Australian batter reveals how he struggled with criticism over his unusual batting style
Australia (Image Source :Twitter)
The Australian batter, Peter Handscomb, revealed how he fought with his mental health issues during his poor time with the bat while on the national team. Notably, Handscomb had a brilliant start to his career in the international arena. In his debut Test series, Handscomb scored at an average of 99.75 in four Tests. But after a poor run of form with the bat, he was dropped from the team in the longest format of the game.
He is currently looking to make a comeback to the national side. Performance in the Sheffield Shield is in his favor as he scored 697 runs in the last season. But the star batter has revealed his mental struggles during his poor form and grabbed the attention of followers. He said that he received constant abuse on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter for his batting technique. He noted that it was hard to ‘not take that to heart.’
During an interview with circket.com.au, Handscomb said- “I found those two platforms probably the worst in terms of people having direct access to you, to just randomly sledge you and take you down.”
“When someone’s taking the time out to directly message you, calling you s**t or ‘How dare you be in the Australian side’- that kind of stuff- it’s hard not to take that to heart, especially I was quite young at the time,”- he added.
Handscomb is currently leading the Middlesex team in the English County Championship. While speaking in the interview he also said that he is more mature to handle criticism now.
“If that does happen again, and I am lucky enough to play for Australia again then, yeah, I think I’m better equipped to deal with everything that comes with it,”- stated Handscomb.
Notably, Handscomb’s next assignment for his nation will be for the Australia-A team. He will be touring Sri Lanka with the team in June.
