'All of us were broken to pieces' - Veda Krishnamurthy after losing her mother and sister due to COVID-19

The last month or so has been a real struggle for Indian cricketer Veda Krishnamurthy after she lost her mother and sister to COVID-19 within two weeks. Veda revealed that she was completely destroyed and broken into pieces.

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"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

Veda stated that she is slowly learning to tune herself out of the grief but the scars keep on coming back to haunt her.

"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.

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Veda Krishnamurthy was the only one in the family who didn't contract the virus and ended up coordinating all the basic needs at that time. The middle-order batsman added that she realized a lot of other people were struggling for basic needs during that time.

"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.

Veda emphasized the importance of mental health during tough situations and revealed that her mother and sister had panic attacks before leaving for the heavenly abode.

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"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 further stated that she herself had battled mental issues before and called for a support system for the people in need.

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"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."

The BCCI was criticised for not keeping in touch with Krishnamurthy in the situation of crisis after which the BCCI secretary Jay Shah contacted her. Reacting to the same, Veda said she is not upset with people who didn't call her and thanked everyone who stood strong with her during that phase.

"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.

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