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| Image Credit: Dun.can from Leicestershire, UK, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons |
Hello Friends,
What's your take on the recently concluded test match series between India & England? Was it as exciting as the one between India & Australia ? I guess this series could not live upto the expectations. Considering England are a formidable side in test cricket, this series was supposed to be a hard fought one. But the way England almost surrendered after the first test match has amused one & all. But they have nobody else to blame apart from themselves. Cricket is not just a game of skills, it's a mental battle too. The one who succeeds in both the parameters is the ultimate winner. India has definitely been the dominating side throughout the series barring the first test match in Chennai. Once again they showed how to come back from behind & emerge victorious. Self belief proved to be the major differentiating factor between both the teams. Series win also helped the Indian team to secure a place in World Test Championship(WTC) final. Great to see crowd coming back to stadiums once again. Hopefully that continues to be a regular feature from now on. Let's now quickly have a look on the top takeaways in terms of leadership aspect from the series.
Never Stop Believing In Yourself
We can not achieve something great until we firmly believe that we are capable of achieving. It's a fact in any sphere of life. Ravichandran Ashwin once again proved what self belief can do for you in a tough sport like cricket. At times he had been criticized for not performing as per the expectation outside subcontinent. He has lost his place in the playing eleven few times. He is no more a part of Indian limited overs set up. In spite of all these he never gave up & kept fighting to prove that he deserves to be at this level. Series in Australia gave him a lot of confidence where he performed not only with the ball but also with the bat in difficult circumstances. But the series against England proved why he is one of the finest spinners around. His performance with both bat & ball was brilliant which brought him the Man of the series award. In a series where Indian top order batting could not really stamp their authority, his batting was upto the mark including a hundred in his homeground. He worked hard on his fitness & batting. Results are amazing. 400 test wickets is a testament to his brilliance over the years. Hopefully he continues to perform the same way & wins lot more matches for India.
Mental toughness
Mentally being strong helps us overcome any obstacles in life be it in personal or professional life. Specially when you are a leader it becomes even more important for you to be mentally tough to guide your team in right direction during crunch times. The effect of mental toughness was clearly visible in this series. Indian team made a strong comeback after the loss in the first test match whereas England team could neither hold on to the winning momentum in the second test nor could come out of the shadow of the loss in second test match. The English batsmen lost the battle mentally rather than in field. Their weakness against Indian spin attack was more due to a lack of positive thought process than batting technique. It is always so important to focus on the present situation rather than the past. The Englishmen just could not forget their past mistakes & kept repeating the same. Joe Root ,the English captain who started the series with a brilliant double hundred also could not replicate his performance in the remaining matches. He could have inspired his team during the crunch times with a match winning performance. But somewhere down the line he also succumbed to pressure which didn't help his teams' cause. Hopefully English team can take strong learnings from this series & come back stronger next time.
Investment in youth
One of the biggest reason for India's recent success across all formats is their long term investment in young players. We saw the younger generation doing wonders for the team in a tough tour like Australia. Home series against England was no different. It's always wise to give more responsibility to the younger generation who can go that extra mile to achieve the desired result. Players like Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Mohammed Siraj gave match winning performances when it mattered the most. With an ideal combination of youth & experience this Indian team is definitely the team to beat. Hopefully the young brigade continues marching towards greater heights with the able guidance of senior members.
Stay tuned for more in this space.
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