Peter Handscomb speaks about effects of social media abuse on mental health

Many players have struggled with mental health issues throughout the years, which has hampered their performance. Australia's wicketkeeper-batter Peter Handscomb has now opened up about the struggles he faced with respect to his mental health. Handscomb made his Test debut for Australia in 2016 against South Africa and had a great start to his career. He had an average of 99.75 after his first four Tests.

However, his form faded out over the next few games. As a result, he was dropped from the team. Handscomb, who aims to make a comeback to the side after a 697-run season in the Sheffield Shield, claimed he faced frequent hate on Facebook and Twitter for his batting approach, and that it was difficult to "not take that to heart."

"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 (given) I was quite young at the time" Handscomb told cricket.com.au.

Handscomb claims he will be better at dealing with social media criticism if he were to play for Australia again. "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," he said.

In the meantime, the 31-year-old is leading Middlesex in the English County Championship. Handscomb will play for Australia A during their tour of Sri Lanka in June. While Australia's senior team will play three T20Is, five ODIs, and two Tests, the A-side will play two one-day games and two first-class matches.

Handscomb appeared in 16 Tests, accumulating 934 runs at an average of 38.9. He also played 22 One-Day Internationals for Australia, scoring 632 runs at an average of 33.3.