Peter Handscomb opens up on how damaging social media abuse could be for a cricketer’s mental health

Australian batter, Peter Handscomb recently spoke his heart out on the constant abuse he faced on Twitter and Facebook during the time when he was part of the Australian team and wasn’t doing well for the side. Peter Handscomb announced his arrival in Australia’s team in scintillating style.

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The Australian batter made his Test debut on 30^th November 2016 against South Africa. After the first four Tests, he averaged an astonishing 99.75. However, his form dipped thereafter and he received severe criticism by the fans on social media for his lackluster batting performances. Speaking to Cricket Australia, he recently spoke how damaging social media could be for international players when they are enduring a lean run in their cricketing career.

"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,"Handscomb told cricket.com.au.

"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," he added.

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Peter Handscomb is keen to make a return to Australia’s Test side. He had a sensational outing in the Sheffield Shield season, amassing as many as 697 runs. Currently, the Australia batter is leading Middlesex in the English County Championship.

"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," the 31-year-old further stated.

For the unversed, Peter Handcomb has been selecting in Australia A team, who will be playing two ODIs and two first-class matches against Sri Lanka during Australia’s upcoming tour of Sri Lanka in June.

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In his Test Cricket career so far, Peter Handscomb has managed to score 934 runs in 16 matches at an average of 38.9.