Stayed in rehab for 26 days: Chahal reveals struggle with alcohol addiction

Indian leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has openly revealed how he struggles with him alcohol addiction and anxiety attacks, which reveal how the end of his marriage and the scrutiny surrounding his personal life affected his mental health. Chahal said he sought professional help after realizing his drinking had gone too far and that he needed to make a change.

Speaking on former India cricketer Aakash Chopra’s Baith & Bol podcast, 36-year-old Chahal reflected on how drinking began as a social activity during his early years in the IPL before becoming more difficult to manage after his divorce. He said the 26-day stay at the rehab center helped him better manage his emotions and regain control of his life.

“I went to a rehab center where I stayed for 26 days. Now I know how to deal with drinking, what to do, how things work. It made a huge difference to me. I started to understand things in a much more mature way in my personal life as well. My emotions have subsided a little bit. I mean, the emotions are still there. But now it’s not like it spills over every little thing,” Chahal said.

Yuzvendra Chahal and Dhanashree Verma, who married in December 2020, began living separately in June 2022 and were allowed divorce by mutual agreement Bandra Family Court in Mumbai in March 2025.

The leg-spinner added that giving up alcohol has helped him rediscover his fitness and focus more consistently on training. Although he felt that his performances had not suffered significantly, he acknowledged that his personal life had taken a significant hit.

“It didn’t affect my cricket that much, but my personal life suffered a lot. So I decided then, let’s put this behind me. I’m happy now. I’m enjoying life, having fun, going out, go-karting, playing golf. I’m in a much better place now,” he said.

Yuzvendra Chahal traced his drinking habits to the early years of the IPL and recalled how partying became a part of life when he was a young cricketer. According to him, the situation worsened after his divorce, when he suffered psychologically and began to realize the possible consequences for his career.

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

Chahal also recalled former South Africa captain AB de Villiers’ advice on the importance of maintaining balance in life. He said he eventually realized that excessive drinking could affect the sport that brought him success.

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

ANXIETY ATTACKS took a toll

Chahal also spoke about the anxiety attacks he experienced during a difficult period in his personal life. He said the public controversy surrounding his divorce had affected him deeply and had taken a toll on his cricket, forcing him to take a break when he was not in the right frame of mind.

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

The leg-spinner revealed that the situation affected his availability in white-ball cricket that year as he struggled to cope with the pressure surrounding his personal life.

“When things started being said about my personal life, it was bad. It affected my cricket as well. I had to take a break that year. I played two white-ball games that year, then I didn’t play T20 because my mindset wasn’t right. It led to anxiety among other things,” Chahal said.

He added that he ultimately decided to stop dealing with online comments and focus on moving forward.

“When you’re a public figure, you basically give everybody an invitation to comment on your personal life,” he said. “People on social media will keep talking, you can’t silence them. Let’s start again.”

Chahal, who recently retired from first-class cricket, remains the leading wicket-taker in IPL history with 233 wickets. He also took 217 wickets across 72 ODIs and 80 T20Is for India, establishing himself as one of the most successful white-ball spinners in the country.

The leg-spinner has not played for India since August 2023. He was part of the T20 World Cup squad in 2024, but the leg-spinner did not get any game time.

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