He was a national hero when 'Monty Mania' gripped English cricket, but Monty Panesar suffered a spectacular fall when beset by mental health problems.

Now, ahead of Sportsmail's serialisation of his revealing and brutally honest new autobiography The Full Monty, Panesar talks to former England captain and his friend and hero Nasser Hussain.

Monty Panesar opened up on his mental health issues to Sportsmail's Nasser Hussain

Monty Panesar: Yes, I am proud of those good times, the moments when I performed better than even I expected. The times I bowled teams out. That makes me happy.

Hussain: What brings a smile to your face when you look back?

Panesar: My first Test wicket!

Hussain: Sachin!

Panesar: Yes, the god of cricket! Sachin Tendulkar. That made me very happy. Then there was my MS Dhoni moment in India (in 2006) when I dropped then caught him.

My favourite team memory came from a series where I didn't even play, the 2010-11 Ashes. When we won I remember us all sitting in a circle on the outfield at Sydney. We were sitting on Australian turf having not won there for years. I'd only played in the warm-ups on that tour but that was really special.

Hussain: One of my favourite memories of you was at Cardiff 2009. You could argue you won the Ashes for England with your bat.

The former England spinner recalled some of his favourite memories on the field

Panesar's first wicket for England was that of Sachin Tendulkar in Nagpur in 2006

Panesar: Yes, I would say that. Cardiff was unexpected. The whole nation must have been thinking, 'What are the chances of this? Monty holding on for a draw!' I think the odds of me doing it with Jimmy Anderson were longer than Leicester winning the Premier League!

Peter Moores said about my batting: 'You look technically good but something goes wrong. You just get out'. I could never really work out what it was.

Hussain: I'm not bringing this up to take the mickey but I think it's important in what happened further down the line. Nothing exposes you more as a cricketer than your fielding. I dropped Graeme Smith here at Lord's and I was hurting every ball as he made another 250-odd runs. Did the comedy that people saw in your fielding hurt you?

Panesar: There was one moment here at Lord's when I stopped the ball on the boundary but put my foot over the line as I threw it. That frustrated me. Duncan Fletcher had that headmaster thing when he looked at me thinking: 'You're better than that. That was a dumb moment'.

Henry Blofeld started to call me Monty Python. It got to me. People thought of me as someone who tried hard but was a comical figure.

Hussain: I remember you asking me for a chat early in your career and we sat for an hour at the Taj Hotel in Mumbai.

Panesar: It was because I thought of you and Duncan as the captain and coach who started to change English cricket, began to create the modern England. I wanted to ask you about that and how you did it. I remember going away and writing loads of notes but most of what you said seemed to go in one ear and out the other!

I do remember you telling me Ashley Giles gave a lot to the team as a whole package and that I had to work on all areas of my game. I thought: 'I know what Nasser's saying but I want to prove to him I can be in that team as a match-winner. That I can win games for England.'

The 37-year-old says it hurt him when he became a comical figure for his fielding

Hussain: In the end, though, it wasn't Giles who kept you out of the England team. You mention Graeme Swann a lot in your book.

Panesar: To be honest I knew he was a better all-round cricketer than me. He was a better batsman and slip fielder and contributed to the team tactically. It was like he had a turbo engine and I didn't, and I always knew that. I felt I had to wait for him to retire.

Hussain: Let's get on to the tough times. Do you think all the things I've mentioned, the comical fielding, the batting, the frustrations of being a high-quality spinner not playing for England, contributed to your mental health problems?

Panesar: If everything had gone the way I wanted, I don't think there would have been problems. It's when you're fighting for what you want that you put extra pressure on yourself and are not kind to yourself.

I wanted my name to be in lights with the best cricketers in the world. That was the dream. When that didn't happen, I entered a new phase of my life and doubts began to creep in.

Hussain: I'm not talking out of turn here but I remember speaking to an England captain who said of all the players he played with, you were the one he feared would end up on the front pages — and he played with some wild ones. That was before your problems came to light.

Panesar: I never knew Michael Vaughan felt that way. It might have helped if he'd shared those concerns with me.

Hussain: It wasn't Michael!

Panesar: Oh, OK. That narrows it down a bit! Michael was brilliant with me actually. He used to set the fields and let me get on with my spin bowling. He got me focusing on my strengths. Sorry Michael!

Panesar famously stood firm against Australia in Cardiff during the 2009 Ashes series

Hussain: My point is, people did start worrying about you at quite an early stage. Was there a moment when you stopped being the Monty we all knew and loved?

Panesar: The old Aussie spinner Greg Matthews suggested I see a hypnotherapist and I was with him and some friends in London.

They were all talking and I just couldn't join in. I couldn't connect to reality. I didn't understand.

Then there was a time when I was with Essex and I was cycling in the gym with James Foster. We were competing against each other and a group of players were watching us.

I just got it into my head that everyone was against me. It wasn't Fozzy's fault. It was mine. I just got really angry and went off in a strop.

It started to become apparent I was moving away from Monty Panesar the cricketer. I'd never behaved like that.

Hussain: I've spoken to the Essex boys and they said you'd be perfectly fine and would suddenly just flip. You would be bowling normally and then start doing impressions, but you were clearly unwell. You were suffering from a mental health issue.

Panesar: I was disappointed with the way I behaved. I became paranoid. My confidence suffered. I thought the fielders and umpires were against me and I got lower and lower. I started to think the fans were laughing at me. The reality was everyone wanted me to do well and wanted me to love the game again.

Hussain: Then there was that business in the bar in Brighton when you were at Sussex and you urinated towards a doorman. When I knew you, you were the last person I'd expect to do something like that. How did it get to that?

Panesar: It was only a trickle to one side. It wasn't quite as bad as it sounds. I'd had too much to drink. I didn't think it was anything major. Then my agent told me a story was coming out. I was shocked.

Then I thought: 'What am I going to say to my mum and dad?' The thing is, everyone drinks in Punjabi culture, but we do it to enjoy with family and friends. Not to behave in that way.

Hussain: Was it a stupid drunken incident or a symptom of your mental health?

Panesar: I started to use drink to hold on to that image of 'Monty is strong'. I had a drink because it made me feel good. Actually it was the start of something bad. That was just a drunken incident, but my problem was I was in denial at the time.

'Monty Mania' swept the nation but the lovable spin bowler suffered a fall from grace

Hussain: Let's be clear here. You were seriously ill.

Panesar: My parents became worried. They wanted me to see someone. I had always thought strong people couldn't have a problem. I was always the guy who would win games, who had everything in order.

My cricket had always gone the way I had planned it, but suddenly things started going in a direction I hadn't experienced since childhood. It had all been up, up, up but this was new territory mentally.

Hussain: You were prescribed medication for depression.

Panesar: I took it during that Ashes tour. I remember I had a bit of weight gain, but I rarely took it when I was playing. The only time I did was at Essex.

Hussain: You knew you were suffering from an issue, but you went to see a variety of people including Mike Brearley. What was the diagnosis?

Panesar: It was a guy called Peter Gilmore who said I was suffering from paranoia/schizophrenia and that shocked me massively. Mike Brearley told me to be careful about the things I was saying to myself. Some experts thought I'd never get better but I knew I could fight it, come through it.

Hussain: When were things at their worst?

Panesar: When I was at Essex. There was that business with Fozzy and then another time when I lost track of time. I was late for a game by an hour and Fozzy said, 'I've had enough, mate. No more.'

Fozzy and the coach Paul Grayson were good with me and tried their best but the players got so annoyed with the way I was behaving. They didn't want me any more.

Hussain: Why do cricketers seem to suffer with mental health problems more than other sports?

Panesar: Perhaps it's the isolation, the individual nature of the sport. Depression and anxiety can creep in. We go away for so long. For football and rugby players, four weeks away is a long tour but we're normally just getting started after a month.

Panesar was told by Peter Gilmore that he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia

He still plays the game and is battling to make a comeback despite being long in the tooth

Hussain: You went from the point where everybody loved you and wanted to know you to nobody with England or any county wanted you. How have you coped?

Panesar: It was difficult. Everyone was doubting me. I spoke to Neil Burns (former player, now a mentor) and he told me everyone thought I'd gone off the rails. He told me there were so many rumours and I had to put the record straight. I tried to do a couple of interviews to get the message out that I'd had problems, but I was on the way back.

Now the book will hopefully get everything out there. I love the game. I'm not a bad egg in the dressing room, I'm actually a nice guy. I want people to remember the good Monty, but it takes a while to eradicate bad memories. It's like I'm a fireball and people are worried that if they get too close to me they'll get burnt.

Duncan Fletcher once told me if there was one person I could trust in cricket and who would always be loyal it was you. He told me if ever I needed to talk to anyone I should go to you. Perhaps it was the fact we both have Indian backgrounds, but I never forgot that, the faith Duncan had in you.

Hussain: I'm sorry I haven't been there for you a bit more. I had no idea you were in such a bad place.

Panesar: No, it's fine. I should have sought you out more, used your guidance and maybe it might have been different. I'm not saying it's all your fault!

Hussain: You keep trying to get back into the county game. You're still playing club cricket (Shenfield CC, Essex League). Why don't you just let it go, Mont?

Panesar: I had that second spell at Northants and I thought my bowling was back to where it was. So now I'm determined to give it one more go. I feel like I've missed a golden period, some of my prime, because a spinner gets better with age. I feel I've got all these wickets still in me. I'm 37 but feel 32. I can still play first-class cricket.

Even yesterday I was ringing up coaches. They probably think, 'Oh no, it's Monty again', but I want to convince the doubters. I just want to spin that ball. I could easily pack in but I've got to chase my dream.

Panesar says he is back to feeling 100 per cent and has overcome his demons

Hussain: Everyone in cricket would love to know you're in a happy place. Where are you at with your life?

Panesar: I'm mentally and physically 100 per cent back to my best and I've been good for the last two years. I have people I've looked at and want to follow their example.

Look at Andrew Flintoff. He doesn't drink any more and he's been fabulously successful. I'm not saying I'm going to be the next presenter of Top Gear! Then I look at (wrestler-turned-actor) the Rock. He will go to an Oscar party but then he will be in the gym at 4am pumping weights.

I don't need medication. I don't drink. I don't have good and bad days. All of those things have gone. There was a moment I was at Northampton about 18 months ago and I looked around and thought, 'Wow, those paranoid thoughts are not there any more'. I knew then Monty was back. I'm going to be a cricketer again. I'm going to do it.

Hussain: All the very best to you, Monty.