The Will to Win By Yajurvindra Singh

The defeat in the super over in the 3rd T20I faced by New Zealand against India at Hamilton, showed how the mind has become as important as matter, in the game of cricket. India, came through victorious because they had the ‘Will’ to win rather than just a ‘Hope’ to win. The New Zealand cricket team is a prime example of a team that needed a mental coaching stint, especially after their defeat in the finals of the 2019 World Cup against England.

The New Zealand board has faltered in not doing so and therefore, unfortunately, it will now take a while for their cricket team to get their confidence back. The Kiwi players had the Indian side on the verge of defeat but the reality of it happening dwindled just at the winning post.

South Africa, a side that should have done wonders in the past, failed to do so, when they were put to the test under pressure and thereafter were branded in world cricket as ‘chockers’. The New Zealand side, one can now firmly establish, has followed in the same vein.

India, on the other hand, seems a side that has mentally grown by leaps and bounds. The temperament shown when under such immense pressure by both Md. Shami bowling the last over and Rohit Sharma in the super over was quite remarkable. The mature words of Sharma after his feat was even more impressive. He said that he kept his head still and waited for the bowler to make the mistake. One needs to have been prepared and experienced to think in such a calm fashion at a time when ones adrenalin was flowing with such a high level of anxiety.

One has seen Rohit Sharma winning in a similar fashion on the last ball in an IPL game for Mumbai Indians but to do so for India, shows how he has grown not only as a player but also as a thinking cricketer.

Shami, on the other hand, is a player who has surprised everyone in world cricket. He is going through an upheaval in his personal life but seems to put all that behind him when he gets the ball in his hand. He is bowling sharp, accurate and seems to have a natural cricketing brain that sometimes astonishes one. The way he changed his length and strategy after the initial 2 balls of the final over of the Indian innings in the 3rd T20I, was what astute cricketing thought process is all about.

India, in the past were a side that had the potential but faltered quite often when most needed. The Indian cricketers of both the Senior and the U-19 sides presently are showing one distinct characteristic and that is, that they are not afraid to fail. One can also see the camaraderie, team work and that element of happiness that they show case in one another’s success. One needs to applaud the people behind the scene to create such an atmosphere. A thumbs up to each and every one of them.

The T20 format needs players to be daring and innovative. But if one looks deeper, it has this wild savage thought process to it. A cricketer has those precious minute seconds to think and therefore, instinctive cricket reaction becomes the order of the day. One can go into the game with all the planning, but T20 cricket is more of a mind game, “Mind reader approach” as one can term it, to get that advantage over ones opponent, whether in batting or in bowling. The batsmen do get that extra bit more of an advantage than the bowlers with the field restrictions, but cricket somehow has always been kinder to the batsmen than the bowlers.

This does help in keeping the spectators on the edge of the seat. This is precisely why, for a cricketer, the T20 format is exciting to play. Furthermore, stardom is a possibility to become a real live hero, but the down side of it is that it can also lead to failure which could haunt one for the rest of ones life.

This is why mental coaching and mentoring has become essential for the development of a modern cricketer. Keeping one’s mental balance intact during the good times and especially after a failure is so important. A blemish could lead to a major depression. Therefore, it has become very important for all the cricket Boards around the world to address this issue very seriously.

Unfortunately, we are still at the stage of the old ways of thinking about a sportsman being tough physically and mentally. This one feels comes with the territory that a cricketer operates in. Every cricketer needs to imbibe the will to win but the wounded need to be looked after much more. Mental preparation is the only way out and the Indian side is showing that winning or losing, success or failure, all are now a part and parcel of the game and it is only the process that needs to be put in place to be successful. They have started the year 2020 with a bang in T20-20 cricket. A great beginning that one hopes finishes the year with a win in the World Cup T20 later in the year in Australia.

Well done team India, to not only get acclimatized to the conditions in New Zealand so early on but also to strike with a force never seen before and for the wonderful and an exceptional historic T20 series win.

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