Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, now 36, has spoken publicly about his experiences with alcohol dependency and anxiety, as well as how his divorce affected both his mental wellbeing and his performances on the cricket field. In a conversation hosted on the Baith and Bol podcast by former India cricketer Aakash Chopra, Chahal spoke candidly about the personal difficulties he had faced.

Following his divorce, Chahal's drinking increased to the point where he sought support from a mental health professional. Nearing the end of his last county cricket season, he entered a treatment centre, where a 26-day residential programme began — a period he later recalled in Hindi as having been particularly difficult to endure. A rehabilitation facility housed him for that 26-day treatment stay.

Chahal noted that developing an understanding of how to manage alcohol consumption — the practical steps and how the process works — had made a noticeable difference for him. He said the intensity of those feelings had eased somewhat, though they had not gone away entirely. He expressed confidence in his ability to manage the situation more effectively, and noted that he and those around him had moved toward reacting less to minor matters.

During the previous IPL season, Chahal described a level of physical vitality that he compared to the energy of someone considerably younger. He noted that his gym sessions, fielding drills, and broader training had all improved after a particular habit dropped away from his routine.

Chahal said that around 2011, when he was still finding his footing in the IPL, alcohol became a fixture of his social life, tied to the party culture surrounding young players at that level. He noted that awareness of the risks associated with overconsumption came only after he had taken the time to educate himself on the subject. He recalled that in the early period, the group would drink at parties, describing that as a time defined by their youth, and said that phase extended across roughly three years before it came to an end.

Chahal also referenced advice from former South Africa batter AB de Villiers — that balance matters in whatever a person pursues. He noted that while the word itself may appear straightforward, keeping all the elements of life in equilibrium proves considerably harder in practice, and said that even a limited degree of balance holds tangible value.

Chahal acknowledged that his state of mind had been under strain in the period following the breakdown of his marriage, and said he reached a point where he recognised that continuing down that path would cost him the cricket that had formed the foundation of his career. He described a view taking hold that his cricket was being negatively affected.

Reflecting on that period, Chahal noted that his mental resilience had prevented his output from dropping noticeably, while acknowledging there was room to have performed at a higher level. He said that while his bowling held up across matches, there were areas — physical preparation and aspects of his personal life — where greater effort on his part would have made a difference.

His divorce drew public attention to his personal life, and the period that followed brought visible strain to both his wellbeing and his performance on the field. That year, his involvement in the format was limited to two white-ball appearances, with T20 cricket set aside amid reported concerns about his mental state. Chahal noted that public figures broadly accept scrutiny of their private lives as part of the territory, and said that the difficulties had carried over into his cricket, requiring him to step away from the game for that entire year.

He noted that only two white-ball matches featured in his schedule that season, and that T20 cricket fell away from his plans because his mental approach to the format had not been in the right place. Among the effects he described was a period of anxiousness, alongside other difficulties.

Chahal described anxiety as an experience in which the heart pounds, and said it also brought on episodes of panic, altered his appearance, and left him temporarily unable to form words. He noted that there were moments when the muscles around his mouth would tighten and pull noticeably to one side, making it apparent to others that something was physically wrong, and said those visible episodes were what first drew his own attention to what was happening.

He said that once steps were taken to address the situation and it gradually receded, his approach became one of moving forward. He noted that online discussion continued regardless of any attempts to limit it, and said he had proposed setting aside what had come before and starting from a fresh point.

Looking back on that period of adversity, Chahal named his family and a close friend as the anchors who helped him stay steady. Following his rehabilitation stay, he spoke about feeling physically refreshed ahead of that IPL campaign — a state he credited with allowing him to put full effort into fielding drills and training — and added that his perspective on cricket had grown more composed as his career had progressed. He noted that alcohol was no longer a prerequisite for basic conversation or daily functioning.