Vision of Life; by Sanjay: Team India's Journey in the World Cup 23 & My Learnings!

“Remember these three things always, first we will fight every ball, no matter we are bowling or batting. Second, focus & give our 100% efforts. Third, keep smiling & enjoy the game, that's important than any win or loss”... Rashid Khan to his Afghan Cricket Team mates before match.

“Pretension before match is a poor joke that you play on yourself. Sanp out of it. Recognize your strengths, work on your weaknesses. Real achievement is, liking what you see in the mirror every morning”... Virat Kohli on 35th b’day.

“One bad match & I will be the worst captain”… Rohit Sharma about his winning streak in the world cup.

Champions don't ride on luck; they make their luck ride on them… Me.

By the time you will be reding this piece. On of the three things might have happened, India might have been in the finals (this has happned), or got out of tournament by losing semifinal to New Zealand or even has become world champion by winning the final! Well, I am referring to ICC men’s world cup tournament of fifty overs cricket which is going on in our country & is in final stage now! Though as I have shared earlier there are cricket haters also but this country loves two things most, cinema & cricket is a fact even die-hard cricket haters also can’t deny, so be it! Speaking about myself, I love sports & I used to be a die-hard cricket fan by myself, not anymore may be over dosage of it or maybe I have aged yet it’s a team sport & I follow it for the learnings I get through the process of following it. Tomorrow ( I wrote this piece on 14^th Nov) will be D-Day for team India as often in last decade we have been boss when its two or three country tourneys but when it’s an event of all cricket playing top seeded countries then our challenge comes to an end in the rounds or in the qualifiers is the recent history! This is the object of my sharing & the way team India has approached to this Olympic of limited over cricket till now in this tournament. As we have won all the league matches & we are only team to achieve this feat in this world cup as every other team has been made to face defeat by some team & in many instances even by the team which is way below in ranking & in experience. This is something we can learn from the tournament & on that background team India winning all the matches is special! Only other team which has achieved this is team Australia & twice they have done it & now our team is in that league if being undefeated in the round matches & that is one sign of champions!

That way it’s just fifteen odd countries play officially this game & out of that only ten has qualified for the world cup, so in the rounds every team has to play nine matches each & top four team reaches to semi-finals! Joke is top teams like Pakistan which is having No. 1 rankings is out in rounds itself, so is England which is regaining champion & teams like Australia & South Africa has been defeated by the teams which are supposedly way below par than them such as Bangladesh & Netherlands & Afghanistan, this is why to follow cricket is interesting as it can give life’s lessons along while you enjoy the game! To watch the teams, play with each other is like watching a live class room of efforts, skill, dedication, strategies, hardships, determination & taking advantage of luck or throwing your luck away, so many things this game teaches you. For e.g., Team like Netherland beat S. Africa which is like rampaging other teams & is way better than Netherlands team which has players who are playing this game as part time activity. There is a teacher , a plumber, an online delivery boy & such who has made Netherlands cricket team & yet they could beat team like South Africa which has not just experience but skills, professional approach to the game & in this tournament such histories were repeated with teams like England, Pakistan, Shri Lanka, Australia but not with team India!

Read the words of Rasheed Khan who is one of the only two experienced players from the team Afghanistan while addressing to his players most of them couldn’t even speak English, he urges them to focus on game, give your hundred percent & most importantly keep smiling i.e., enjoy the game first, rather than focusing on winning the game, don’t you think this philosophy is what all management gurus’ across the world throws at us all the time! Well, here is live example of it what this approach can make to the game, a team of men which don’t have a proper government rather a country which lives under constant threat of war & terrorism, that country’s team was in the race to reach qualifiers till end literally chocking the teams way above them in rankings & experience & resources! What this scenario teaches you, it taught me, instead crying for what I don’t have , I must focus on the job at hand, & try giving my best to my job! This attitude of Afghan team taught me, sports (read as life) is not always about power or experience or might or ranking, it’s about & who plays best on that day & enjoys playing also can win! This taught me, history is important but it’s never permanent & can be written new on every day when you enter the ground. The teams like Afghan & Netherlands taught me, however powerful our opponent may be yet if we stick to our skills, we can defeat him. At the same time after losing first two games respectively teams like Australia & S. Africa got awakened & bounce back winning all their remaining games & making it to finals but other teams followed the downslide & never recovered! This taught me, never to underestimate my opponent ( in life, its situation) & never to take a game granted, as well a defeat can make two things to me, either it can demoralize me making me meet my next defeat faster or it can make me identify about the mistakes I am doing & make me able to overcome them & win next games, choice is mine!

Referring to team India’s performance, we witnessed some great wins as well every player contributed till now & this is what a team is meant to be as you can’t depend of some names all the time, even if they may be God for you! When you call a bunch of people as team then every member must understand his (or her) role & try to give justice to that role to fullest & then usually you win, which is happening with team India! This is why its not just some great names may it be some batsman alone is making runs or some star bowler only is taking wickets but everyone is contributing, that’s how you keep winning most of the times at present! For years team India has always been dependent, sometimes physically or sometimes mentally on one or two names & if that player preforms below par, then the team used to go down like house of cards, no more that scene is now! If you take a keen look, then on both the times, we have won the world cup in 1983 & 2011, both those times all the members contributed with whatever their role was, which is happening now & that’s how you can win nine games in row! And when every member is contributing then every player is relaxed to play freely his natural game which is the key to success & this is applicable to our day-to-day work also in our respective work places. As when every member is doing his duty well & with dedication suddenly the workload doesn’t seem so hard, this is just the way Lord Krisha lifting Govardhan Mountain story form our Hindu Mythology, where every villager contribute & they actually could lift a mountain under leadership of Lord Krishna!

And when all these things you do in the right way beyond that there is a thing named luck which is always there & that’s agreed as you don’t have control on it but luck works both ways, it actually never is partial. Rather most of the times this luck guy sits on compound & keep throwing its weight on both sides, the side which is ready to catch their share usually win, I think all team India needs to do is be ready for their catch of luck! Speaking about me, whether India win world cup or not that does matters to me as I am an Indian but let me tell you, the way our team has played till now, I am super happy & proud for our team, as well has learnt many things for myself & my team, & I think that’s the best result!

*By now while I completed this sharing team India already was in process of building a big total in the semifinal with Virat making his 50^th One Day Hundred, the only man to reach there, so keeping fingers crossed & enjoying to watch team India enjoying their game!

Sanjay Deshpande

smd156812@gmail.com

Sanjeevani Dev.

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