‘Stayed in rehab center for 26 days’: Chahal opens up about his battle with alcohol addiction

Indian leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has spoken about his battle with alcohol addiction and anxiety attacks, revealing how his divorce and the public attention around his personal life affected his mental health. He said he decided to seek professional help after realising that his drinking habits had become difficult to control.

Speaking on former India cricketer Aakash Chopra’s Baith & Bol podcast, the 36-year-old recalled how drinking started as a social activity during his early IPL days but became a bigger problem after his divorce. He said spending 26 days at a rehabilitation centre helped him understand his emotions and regain control of his life.

“I went to a rehab centre where I stayed for 26 days. Now, I know how to handle drinking, what to do, how things work. That made a huge difference for me. Even in my personal life, I started understanding things much more maturely. My emotions have toned down a bit. I mean, the emotions are still there. But now it’s not like they spill out over every little thing. I can handle it better,” Chahal said.

Chahal and Dhanashree Verma married in Dec 2020 and began living separately in Jun 2022 and were granted a divorce by mutual consent by the Bandra Family Court in Mumbai in Mar 2025.

The leg-spinner said quitting alcohol also helped him improve his fitness and focus better on training. Although he felt his cricket had not suffered much, he admitted that his personal life was badly affected.

“My cricket wasn’t affected that much, but my personal life suffered a lot from it. So then I decided, let’s leave this behind. Now I’m happy. I enjoy life, have fun, go out, go go-karting, play golf. I’m in a much better space now,” he said.

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Chahal recalls how drinking became a problem

Chahal traced his drinking habits to the early years of the IPL, when partying was common among young cricketers. He recalled that the players often partied during the tournament’s initial years.

“In the beginning, we used to do it at parties. We were young blood. When the IPL first happened in 2011, we partied heavily for three years,” he said.

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He also recalled receiving advice from former South Africa captain AB de Villiers about maintaining balance in life. Chahal said his drinking increased after his divorce, when he was struggling mentally and eventually realised that his habits could put his cricket career at risk.

“When it went overboard, my mental state wasn’t great at the time, this was after my divorce. So I crossed that line. Then one day it hit me. If I keep doing this, the thing I love most, the reason I reached where I am today, my cricket, will never survive,” Chahal said.

Chahal opens up about anxiety attacks

The spinner also described the anxiety attacks he experienced during a difficult phase of his personal life. He said the public discussion surrounding his divorce affected him emotionally and had an impact on his cricket.

“Anxiety is like your heart starts beating really fast from the inside. My face used to shrink during a panic attack. I couldn’t even speak. Sometimes when it happened, my lips would get so tight and pulled to one side that you could easily figure out something was wrong with me,” he said.

Chahal added that his mental health struggles affected his participation in white-ball cricket that year, as he found it difficult to deal with the pressure surrounding his personal life.

“When things started to be said about my personal life, it felt bad. It also had an effect on my cricket. I had to take a break that year. I played two games with white ball that year, then didn’t play T20s because my mindset was not right. It led to anxiety among other things,” Chahal said.

He eventually decided to stop worrying about what people were saying online and focus on moving forward.

“When you are a public figure you basically give everyone an invitation to comment on your personal life,” he said. “People on social media will keep on talking, you can’t shut them up. Let’s start fresh,” he concluded.