Veda Krishnamurthy on losing her mother, sister to Covid-19: I was completely destroyed

India Women batter Veda Krishnamurthy has opened up on his family’s dreaded ordeal with Covid-19 and said that “she was completely destroyed” after the death of her mother and elder sister in a span of two weeks.

The 28-year-old revealed that nine members of her family battled the deadly disease as she had to put up a brave face for for the sake of the bereaved family.

“I’m a big believer in what destiny holds for you, but I really hoped that my sister would come back home. When she didn’t, I was completely destroyed. All of us were broken to pieces,” Krishnamurthy told ‘ESPNcricinfo’.

“…I still had to put up a brave face for the rest of the family. What I had to do in those testing couple of weeks was learn to tune myself out of my grief. But it keeps coming back to haunt you,” she said.

The middle-order batter said she was the only one in the family not to contract the virus and ended up coordinating all the medical needs at that time.

It was then that she realised how difficult it was to arrange the needed medicines, injections and oxygen for peole in dire need of it.

“Going through my Twitter feed at the time, I felt a lot of people were struggling with something as basic as getting a doctor to instruct them on what they should be doing – whether that was isolating at home or something else,” she recalled.

Speaking about the mental aspect of dealing with a health crisis and the ensuing tragedy of such a magnitude, Krishnamurthy said her mother and sister also suffered from anxiety while battling coronavirus.

“Mental strength is important. My oldest sister, Vatsala, had panic attacks before she passed away from COVID,” the 28-year-old said.

“My mom might also have panicked, because the night before she died of the virus, in my home town, Kadur, about 230km north-west of Bangalore, she learned that everybody else in the family had tested positive, including the kids. I don’t know, but maybe that affected her,” she said.

Krishnamurthy revealed that she has dealt with mental health issues of her own in the past and suggested a structured support system for those in need.

“A lot of people who are playing cricket currently know what mental health is, but it is also important to accept that if the system is not doing anything to offer you mental-health assistance, you can and must find the support for yourself if you can afford it.

“I’ve had mental-health issues and I’ve sought support to resolve them myself.”

Krishnamurthy, who has played 48 ODIs and 76 T20Is, was left out from the India Women squad for England tour.

The BCCI had drawn flak from several quarters for not keeping in touch with the suffering player after which Krishnamurthy received a phone call from the board’s secretary Jay Shah.

“I’m not upset with people who didn’t call me or message me. I thank everyone who checked on me.

“I did get a call from the BCCI secretary, which I didn’t expect, to be honest. He said when he is in Bangalore, he will visit me,” she said.