Chahal credited his family and best friend for standing firmly by him.
Veteran India spinner Yuzvendra Chahal recently shared a deeply candid account of his personal and emotional struggles during a podcast interview with former cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra.
Chahal revealed that his drinking habits initially started around 2011 during the early days of his IPL career, fueled by parties and youth. However, things became highly excessive following his divorce.
Following a period where his drinking "crossed all limits", the wrist-spinner checked into a rehabilitation centre and stayed there for 26 days.
The decision to seek help significantly improved his personal life, emotional balance, and maturity. He noted that during the last IPL season, his body felt rejuvenated, allowing him to train, gym, and complete fielding drills with peak intensity.
While dealing with the lowest points of his personal life, the 36-year-old credited his family and best friend for standing firmly by him.
"Yuzi, you are the guy who has made everyone laugh. You are like a livewire on the field, but when you were going through problems in your personal life, was there anybody with you? This is the lowest of the low. The emotional scars when a crisis happens in personal life are different, unlike anything we go through in professional life," Chopra asked during the podcast.
"My best friend and family were there," Chahal replied.
"So when did you decide to give up alcohol?" Chopra then asked.
"After last year of county cricket. It crossed all limits, so I checked into a rehab centre and stayed there for 26 days. Now, I know how to handle it. That decision made a massive difference to my personal life. My maturity increased. My emotions are balanced now. Last IPL, my body felt like I was 30 years old again - doing gym work, fielding drills and training properly," he said.
"But how did it start, and why?" Chopra asked again.
"Initially, I was young. There were parties. In 2011, I played my first IPL. AB de Villiers once told me, 'Balance is key in life.' It sounds easy, but it is not. Things got excessive after my divorce, and my mental state was not that great. I realised that if I continued down that path, I would ruin the very thing I love most - cricket. So I put an end to it, and now I am in a much happier and better space," Chahal said.
In this widely covered interview, Chahal also detailed how his personal life "getting played out in public" impacted his mental health and he chose to take a break from the game.
"When you have a public profile as a public figure, everything happening in your life becomes an invitation for people to comment. I felt bad, and there were a lot of difficulties. It affected my cricket as well. I played two white-ball matches that year and then didn't play T20s because my mindset wasn't right. I wasn't at 100%, and I didn't want the team to suffer because of me," he said.
"I spoke to Anirudh sir and requested a break, and he was very supportive. Eventually, I thought, 'How long will I carry this weight?' Anxiety and panic attacks started happening in my life."
Chahal further described how severe his anxiety became, explaining that his face would physically shrink and his lips would tighten to one side during panic attacks, making it difficult to speak.
"Anxiety is like, the heartbeat increases. For me, my face would shrink during a panic attack. I couldn't even speak; my lip would tighten and pull to one side, so people could figure out that something was wrong with me. That was the first time I realised how intense anxiety could be. Then I realised social media would say a lot of things. Let's focus on the IPL," he said.
"When it slowly subsided, I decided to let it go. Social media will keep talking; you can't shut everyone up. So I decided to start afresh. In my first year with Punjab Kings, when they paid Rs 18 crore for me, I felt, 'They trusted me with so much money; I can't let them down.' In the KKR match, while defending 111, I realised I had to step up," Chahal added.
Earlier this month, Yuzvendra Chahal called time on his first-class career. However, he clearly stated, "I am not done yet," reaffirming his hunger to perform in List A and domestic T20s to earn back his spot in India's ODI and T20I squads.