I would literally cry on the couch: Tim Paine recalls his long injury layoff

Australia captain Tim Paine on Sunday spoke about how his mental health deteriorated when an injury kept him away from cricket. Tim Paine said he would cry on the couch after losing confidence during the long injury layoff.

Tim Paine suffered a career-threatening index finger injury in 2010 when he was still new as Australia's first-choice wicketkeeper and was showing a lot of promise.

Tim Paine missed cricket for two long seasons, during which he underwent as many as seven surgeries. And in the process, he lost his confidence and form.

"I got to the stage where I was scared of getting hit, and I just had no idea what I was going to do," Tim Paine said in the ‘Bounce Back Podcast’.

"Instead of watching the ball I was thinking about getting hit or what might happen. When you're doing that the game becomes very difficult. I couldn't score runs for an extended period of time. I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep. I was so nervous before games. I was horrible to live with,” Tim Paine added.

Tim Paine returned to the Test team in the 2017-18 Ashes series

The 35-year-old also went on to say that he started disliking playing cricket, but would enjoy watching it. Tim Paine said that nobody knew he was struggling, not even his friends and family, and only after consultation with a sports psychologist did his mental health begin to improve.

"I remember times when I would be sitting at home, she'd be at work, and I would literally be sitting on the couch, not bawling my eyes out but I'd be crying,” he said.

Paine found his way back in the Test team during the 2017-18 Ashes series and also took on the role of the the red-ball captain after Steve Smith was suspended post the ball-tampering scandal.

The right-hander has played 31 Tests, 35 ODIs and 12 T20Is for Australia, from which he has 1330, 890 and 82 runs respectively.