Despite mental health problems, England's Monty Panesar dreams of making an Ashes comeback

It’s been an unfortunate turn of events for England left-arm spinner Monty Panesar who has been suffering both on and off the field. Following the dismal Ashes tour of 2013-14, which saw Australia maul the visitors 5-0, Panesar was axed from the England team. However, he was desperate to prove himself, only to realize a little too late that he hadn’t recovered from a shoulder injury.

Northamptonshire bore the brunt of his ghastly performance, where Monty bagged a mere 5 wickets at an average of 85. Aged 35, Monty is now taking another crack at reviving his career after having undergone a winter workout in Australia to rehabilitate his shoulder. Panesar is also off the medication he was taking for his well-documented mental health issues. The spinner now dreams of taking the field in the upcoming Ashes series.

However, Monty Panesar is left county-less. The veteran left-arm spinner, who had wreaked havoc in India to thump the local spinners, is in some ways forced to go around with a begging bowl and earn himself a place in one of the 18 first-class counties. The onus is on Panesar to convince the counties that he has indeed left the ‘darker times’ behind him.

“I’m just hoping someone says, yeah, let’s see what you’re like,” Panesar shared with the Daily Mail.

“Hopefully that resistance will be less when they see me bowling in the nets. Hopefully, they’ll see I’m a different person,” he added.

People wondered what problems these ‘darker times’ inflicted on Panesar, who sportingly shed light on his troubles in sports terminologies.

“It’s like you’re about to leg-press 400kg and your mate who’s helping you sees another mate across the gym and goes over to talk to him.”

“You’re holding on to the weight because you need his help but as you try to call out his name your voice gets quieter. “Mate, where are you?” But he can’t hear you.”

“You get to that place where, internally, you’re holding on to this huge weight. All you need is your mate to help you and the weight’s lifted. At that time, I had a lot of weight on my shoulders, and I didn’t know how to get rid of it,” Panesar shared.

The Englishman had no qualms admitting that his behavior had indeed become erratic while he hopped from club to club. On national duty too, Panesar showed signs of quirkiness; in Sri Lanka, he put on a pair of headphones while completely oblivious of his 12th man duties of serving drinks to the players.

Monty Panesar, however, has well and truly overcome those set of hurdles and is itching to make a comeback for England.

“I just need people to think, let’s have a look at him and see where he’s at,” the spinner said.

England awaits their very own turbanator’s return to the field and hopes to see him clap his hands and jump for joy in his typical wicket celebrations.