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“I have seen toughest of the men crumbling under
pressure & that’s normal; special is, being able to be normal under
pressure, that’s what champions do”… Vince Lombard.
Indeed, these words
from the great American Football coach flashed in my mind when team India
lifted the T20, World-Cup Trophy on 29th June midnight (India time).
There are three moments in the history for sure when the entire country’s
citizens felt like having their heart in the mouth when the ball was lifted in
the air; first one I haven’t witnessed or experienced as I was away from TV or
Radio, it was in 1983 when Viv Richards lofted Madanlal over midwicket. Second
time was in 2007, final of T20 World Cup when Misba Ul Haq lobbed
Joginder Sharma which I did experience as I was watching that match & after
17 years once again entire nation’s heart was in mouth on 29th
June’s midnight when David Miller lofted Hardik Pandya in the finals of T20
World Cup of 2024! On all the three times, the catch was taken & heart went
back in place though this time it has nearly fallen on the ground & just
before it hit the earth, a miracle named Suryakumar Yadav held it & placed
it in its rightful place! If you think this is over-dramatic then sorry,
as actually my words couldn’t ever come 10% near of the situation which we all
(obviously the cricket lovers) experienced in reality, ask any of the Indians!
Ok, the sharing is
about cricket but not to describe about how great the game is & popularity
as in this country there are many numbers of cricket haters too, so with due
respect the sharing is about the final
played in T20 world cup between India & S.Africa but it’s about the game or
say sports & temperament which I experienced & more than that
winning attitude, so even cricket haters also can read ahead & this is
applicable to any game, even to the game of life too! I am deliberately not mentioning any details
before that final & if India hasn’t
lost a game before that in the tournament but then so did S.Africa too, in a
way it was a clash of equals & all those who say cricket is not really an
international game , I won’t defend but just mention a few facts. This world
cup, there were nearly sixteen teams which included USA, Netherlands, Scotland,
Afghanistan too & there were major upsets, with strong & regular teams
like Pakistan, New Zealand & West Indies not being able to make it to
qualifier, which shows about the raising quality of the game by other countries
than major seven or eight & it’s a very good sign for the game. At the same
time on route to the finals, India defeated every other major country where
cricket is predominantly played such as Australia & England, which were the
current champions. And then, a sport is a sport,
especially when you play in the finals of world level then it’s all about
handling the pressure & when you represent country of 150 crores then the
burden of expectations is more than you can even imagine & what you &
me can do is, learn from that process of taking the pressure by those eleven
players on the field, is my subject of sharing!
Before I come to the final game just a ride of the past for both
competing teams, again not to bore you with details but to make you understand
the mental condition or say pressure both the teams were carrying as that
directly affects your performance. S. Africa has been
always tagged as “Chokers” as they were never been able to break the
barrier of clearing Semi Finals of any World level cricket tournament while
recently India is being tagged as “Chokers of Finals” as in last nearly
thirteen years the Indian team has reached in five finals of the game in
different format (Test, One-day &T 20) & has lost all of them! And two
of the defeats were in the last one year only, making both teams desperate as
well as nervous while approaching this final! And here the challenge begins…
While you are nervous while playing the finals as
once again the unseen “demon of defeat” in the finals haunts you then at the
same time the opponent team is desperate to win the final as they have already
buried their demon by clearing the semifinal, making them an extremely
dangerous opponent which S.Africa did prove one! And then recent IPL ,
(please don’t ask what it is) has seen poor form of our captain as well vise
captain as their respective league team ended up in the bottom of the league,
putting them in extreme pressure of proving their selection itself in the team
& on such background they were supposed to lead the team! Add to these
things, the final was with a team whose many players were part of IPL &
knew the game of every Indian player better than any other team, making us
vulnerable on the surprise front, which is one more matter of concern. On top
of it, our backbone player Virat Kohli showed poorest of the forms of his life
scoring minimum in all the games before the finals & to such extent that
demand was to drop him from the finals! This I shared to make you know what was
the mindset of the team as this is what we have to study & learn from! In
India as a Super Star of cricket or of movies if you are loved more than the
God for your success then you are hailed for your failure more than a devil
too, that pressure also every player was carrying!
I will share the kind
of scene on streets that evening so you will understand, just few months back
when India was playing final of World Cup of One Day cricket then every
restaurant in the city (read as in the country) was packed advertising
“Celebrate World Cup” with us types captions & when we lost that match it
was like crashing the millions of parties at a time. So, this time even India
was in finals, yet there was no hohalla or restaurants arranging screening of
the final etc. because people knew what had happened in the last many such
finals & nobody was ready to get their mood spoiled! This showed the
mood of the entire country that they were not satisfied or happy just by their
team reaching the finals but they wanted them to win this final & that’s a
huge burden of expectations! Well, there were baiting (friendly baits of
treats, of course) & in our badminton group I was the only one who baited
on S.Africa as a winner & I justified my logic
as, in the finals all that matters is temperament. I am not a sports therapist
or psychologist but temperament means how you handle a situation when put under
pressure & by me, our team has displayed a pattern of inability to handle
the pressure of the finals in the past, so I baited on S.Africa team! And to my
surprise (sweet one) I lost the bait as the Indian team displayed one of the
best examples of temperament, individually as well as a team!
I won’t bother you with figures & score-cards
as we all know it & not with detailing of the incidences also, as we all
have lived but what I will mention is the way that battle (battle with
self-demons) has been fought & what we should take from it & not just
the world cup! I have watched the match (replay) in last five days nearly twenty times
& what I watched is, the game from where we lost first three early wickets
to how we handled the middle overs & the S.African team’s batting’s last
six overs, as we all go through a cycle where we are at high & suddenly
things started going wrong to such extent that we decide to give up or do
something foolish thing, which Indian team didn’t, is my subject of sharing.
The way Virat Kohli put his head down after we lost three wickets & decided
that he won’t give his wicket if that was one way to learn then from the other
side Axar Patel & Shivam Dubey attacked bowling knowing the importance of
Virat holding on other side, this is teamwork guys, worth watching! Every
member of the team knew his role in the game & tried to stick to that &
let me tell you this has happened in every earlier game too yet a structure is
tested to its worst in the storm & not in regular breeze, so this was
special as this was final, a storm! Like some see-saw game, the match tilted on
the Indian side when S.Africa started batting with early wickets & less run
rate in the first few overs, again the S African team turned the tide to such
an extent that at the last stage of the game victory for them remained a mere
formality!
On my badminton WhatsApp group message flashed, “Sanjay
Congratulations,” means, you won the bait, everybody thought India is going to
lose! But that’s where my joy of losing the bait started as this Indian team
proved me wrong by showing something which they themselves haven’t been able to
do in the recent past, temperament, they found it & loads of it. Every single person of the team refused to accept the defeat, the
body-language of the captain was not of a person who could see the defeat ahead
but of someone who is seeing beyond that defeat & knew he can defeat the
defeat! They were not afraid of losing because
they were not thinking about losing but only of winning the game, this is my
biggest learning from team India’s T20 WC win! I could see that in
every action of each player, may it be bowling, fielding, throwing, cheering up
other team-mates, they were faces of men who were not ready to back up, that’s
temperament & that’s my best take away from this win. I have watched those
last four overs of the match now for the twentieth time like I used to read
M-3 (ask any engg student its longform), every-time trying to grasp the
right sense of what I am watching & every time I am a new person after
watching it. It was a sheer display of grit, dedication, team spirit & not
losing focus from the destination which was the World Cup! I deliberately not
used the term skill in above list as nobody ever doubted any of the player’s
skill as without that you won’t be paying in that team which has reached to the
finals, so it was not about the skill, it was using it at its best at the time
when it's needed most, which team India did! May it be catching by the fielders
as there was a catch which can be perfectly fit in the movie Matrix or may it
bowling by bowlers when the pressure which makes your movements slow like you
are walking in knee depth ice or the captain whose brain must have been numb by
fighting the negative thoughts of defeat which was looming over from all
directions yet was taking right decisions of making every player know his
position & responsibility; seriously, my eyes get wet even writing these
lines with emotions, so they did also when I have watched those last four overs
by mere feeling the presence of the immense pressure on that ground! The pressure was so much that it could travel through the
screen of the mobile & reach out to me the way they give you 5-D experience
of a movie, this was watching a 6-D drama which can touch your mind also,
imagine what must it be doing to the actors (read as players) on the field, is
my subject of sharing! Here, many
people compared Suryakumar's catch as well some innings with other such
incidents but I differ to do so as every game is different & special,
though some are more special, so was this, because of the pressures from the
past, you can say that!
Guys, we have won the
T20 world cup but more than that we (read as team India) have won over our own
fears, that's the biggest gain of this cup is what I think. In life also we have
to face ups & downs but not losing the focus as every up meet with the down
& vice-versa, so be ready to face the down & ride over it. At the same
time if we can master our mind then you learn that it's ok to be afraid &
feel the pressure; important is, what you do in such situation, as that will
define you what you are really! I thanked to
S.Africa’s team too, as they gave us opportunity to face our extreme fears
& tested our ability to face them by being a worthy opponent & a line
of our Bollywood dialogue for them, “picture abhi baki hai mere dost’’, so
better luck next time; once again thanks a ton both teams, for helping me to
become a better team-mate, just by watching this final!
-
Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
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