Former India captain Rahul Dravid has advised young players to live a balanced life in order to better fight mental health difficulties they are all vulnerable to facing. He also advised them to take care of themselves on and off the field to stay mentally fit.

The current NCA director also feels professionals must be employed so as to help the cricketers overcome such issues because people like him at a coaching level aren't best equipped to do so despite great intentions. 

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"It is a big challenge," Dravid told ESPNcricinfo. "This is a tough game. There is so much competition, a lot of pressure, and kids are playing all year round now. It is a game in which you do sometimes spend a lot of time waiting around, having a lot of time to think."

There have been quite a few instances in recent times of players taking a break from the game due to mental health issues they are facing. Famously, Australia's Glenn Maxwell, whose brave decision to go public about the battle he is fighting within was lauded by Virat Kohli before the Indian skipper revealed thinking "it was the end of the world" when he couldn't buy a run on that career-changing 2014 England tour. 

"It’s important to maintain a certain level of balance in things you do," Dravid added. "Living a slightly balanced life potentially helps you. We are also putting up a few things in place at the NCA, where we want to allow people to address some of these things and have people that they can speak to."

"Sometimes, some of these things need to be handled by professionals. So, yes, there has been some work on that as well, wherein eventually, we'll get to a point where hopefully we should have professionals on board. I think sometimes some of these things need to be handled by professionals."

"I don't think some of the coaches, or some of us, have the ability to deal with some of the issues. Some things we might be able to, but there may be some things where we might need to look at professional help."

(Inputs from ESPNcricinfo)