Diabetes has become very common in India. Many people are battling with the disease due to unhygienic eating habits and unhealthy lifestyle.
There have been cases in sports as well. One of the widely known names in cricket have been suffering from type 1 diabetes. While almost all sportspersons have made it fighting the condition, there have been a few unlucky cases as well and one such we’ll see in cricket.
Let’s go through the list of cricketers who have suffered from this condition:
- Wasim Akram (Pakistan)
The Pakistani legendary pacer was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at an age of 29. But he ended up being one of the greatest players of his nation after successfully fighting the disease.
“I was diagnosed with diabetes in 1997. I was only 29 years old. I thought my life was gone — no more cricket. But, my wife gave me mental strength. It’s just mental discipline. Temptations are there. I feel like having biryani every night — naans and kulchas, and niharis. But I avoid it,” Akram once said.
- Craig Cumming (New Zealand)
Former New Zealand cricketer Craig Cumming found that he had type 1 diabetes in 2006.
“The way I was feeling mentally and physically I was probably ready to give up cricket. You need a fair bit of mental and physical strength but I’d lost all that and remember making a phone call to a good friend . . . and talked about whether I wanted to continue playing. But once I started on insulin it was like I’d been injected with energy,” Cumming said.
- John McLaren (Australia)
The right-handed batsman, who played one Test for Australia and 33 First-Class matches for Queensland, died of diabetes in 1921.
- Craig McMillan (New Zealand)
The New Zealander, who was diagnosed Type 1 diabetes at an early age of 15, always had a bag of jellybeans with him in the middle to lift his sugar levels if he felt he was running low. The result of the self-belief and being mentally strong was an 11-year-old international career with a 3,116 Test and 4,707 one-day runs.
- Dirk Wellham
The right-handed batsman, who hailed from New South Wales, was among the cricketers who played despite having diabetes. In his six-year-old career, he scored 636 international runs in 22 matches (6 Tests and 17 ODIs).
