On the occasion of World Mental Health Day, Mumbai Indians shared an important message for everyone.

The career of any sportsman can be equated to a roller-coaster ride with plenty of ups and downs. Many times, the pressure to perform, a career-threatening injury, loss of form, or a setback like getting dropped can take its toll on them.

Most of the sportsmen plan their lives based on the sporting events that take place around the year. With the ongoing pandemic, it has been a challenging time for them without any action.

In a special segment on MITV, cricketers like Trent Boult, Jayant Yadav, and Mitchell McClenaghan shared their thoughts on mental well-being. Bowling coach Shane Bond as well as Strength and Conditioning coach Paul Chapman spoke in length about the importance of mental health.

Boult: Make sure you speak out about your problems

"A problem shared is a problem halved in my opinion. So, make sure you speak out. There’s a lot of talk around mental health and mental well-being around the world. And rightly so, I think it’s a very important issue."

McClenaghan: Take five minutes every day to clear your mind

"Take 5 minutes every day to clear your mind. We spend most of our time working on our physical fitness, our skills, being in shape. But, at the end of the day, if you’re not mentally looking after yourself, particularly in sports, you can get into a dark rabbit hole."

Jayant: It's important to start talking about it

"An athlete is delivering his skills depending on what the mind says or thinks. So, it’s very important to think about it, start talking about it."

Chapman: There's still a significant stigma attached to mental health

"We’re quite comfortable if someone has a hamstring injury or a physical injury where they are unable to train and play because we can probably see that injury. We can see the effects, we can see the pain in relation to someone that is going through some struggles with mental health, and is unable to play at this point. We find that very difficult because we can’t see it. We can’t necessarily grasp the pain and the difficulty that the player is going through."

"There’s still a significant stigma around that is attached to having a mental health problem. It’s not readily accepted. So, someone who has a mental health based concern, it’s just as having a physical concern and we need to address that. We need to provide the support based services to ensure that they are able to recuperate and get back into a position, where they can perform at their best."

Bond: A lot of people are coping with really strenuous times

"At the moment, we’re going through some challenging times. A really important thing for everybody is mental health. We’re lucky, we’re back here playing cricket again, doing our jobs. But there’s a lot of people out there who are stuck at home, lost their job, and are coping with really strenuous times."

"Appreciating what you have, your friends and family, connecting with other people and exercise. Getting out there, exercising makes you feel good about yourself."