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| Image Credit: magnific.com |
Hello Sports lovers,
Welcome to yet another edition of Sports Talk Of The Month. It was an exciting month for the sports lovers where they were keeping a close watch on their atheletes' performance in the ongoing Asian Games along with enjoying exciting cricketing action across the globe. So far India has secured 45 medals in the Asian Games including 4 gold medals. For the Indian cricket team (Both men & women) it was a busy month. Women in blue started the month with victory in Asia cup followed by Asian Games gold medal. Whereas Men in blue got a good enough preparation during their 3-0 T20I series victory against Afghanistan for the Asian Games as well as upcoming T20I series against tough opponents like New Zealand & West Indies. Apart from the T20Is Indian team continued their preparation for the ODI World cup next year with dominant performance against West Indies.
Talking about Australian men's team who have already started their much talked about 20 test journey in a span of next 12 months were also trying different combinations in ODI series against Zimbabwe & South Africa with a clear focus towards the ODI World cup next year. Despite their recent ODI performances & team combinations raising several questions they still remain one of the best in the format. Right now it seems like their entire focus is on the upcoming test series against South Africa. Talking about England they had a successful run throughout the month across formats. After winning the test series against Pakistan they won the T20I & ODI series against Sri Lanka convincingly. With two sharp cricketing brains joining the setup (Stephen Fleming as head coach of test team & Kevin Petersen in a mentoring capacity with the white ball teams) seems like exciting times are ahead for them.
In terms of franchise T20 leagues we witnessed exciting cricket in the first edition of European T20 Cricket League(ETPL) along with T20 extravaganza from the Caribbean land in terms of CPL & WCPL. But this edition of Sports Talk Of The Month will cover couple of stories which showcase instances of extraordinary mental toughness rather than outstanding performances.
Stern Test Awaits Smith
First story is the one which revolves around one of the modern day greats and a shocking incident of his cricketing journey. Steve Smith's formal captaincy journey with the national team ended post the infamous Sandpaper Gate incident in South Africa back in 2018. It was one of the incidents that kind of changed how the Aussies used to play their cricket. It would have been a life changing experience for Smith. Though he continues to lead the Australian team in the absence of regular captain Pat Cummins with the same passion and aggression but it is fair to say that he did not get the kind of support during that incident that he should have got from the stakeholders of Australian cricket.
Now at a time when he is deciding series by series in terms of how long he wants to extend his playing career he stands again at a crossroads when he will be part of the touring Australian team for the three test series in South Africa. It is Australia's first test tour in the African nation post the 2018 tour. This tour is of utmost importance to the visitors considering a favourable result can bolster their chances further for a place in the WTC final next year as well as a win against defending WTC champions will reinstate their dominance in red ball cricket.
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| Smith would be up for the stiff challenge against the Proteas Image Credit: DustyNail, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons |
Entire cricketing world was in a state of shock during that period back in 2018 when two of the all time cricketing greats got the harshest punishment that will be remembered for ages to come. In a recent interaction Steve Smith has shared his feelings during that phase (Click here for Smith's full interview). The entire world has seen how an Australian cricket captain broke down during a media interaction while expressing his feelings of what has happened. It's difficult for anybody to imagine what he was going through during that phase. At the same time we all have witnessed how he made a stunning comeback post completion of his one year ban and once again set the stage on fire during the 2019 Ashes tour of England.
The trauma he had to go through during that phase and the strength that he required to come out of that phase would have definitely helped him to grow both as a human being & cricketer. Now standing at the fag end of his illustrious career going back to the same place where he faced the biggest humiliation of his career would require him to muster the same strength once again. He knows it would be utterly challenging to face that same place & atmosphere and come back triumphant. But that's the moment he probably would cherish for the rest of his life if he can do something extraordinary during this series.
For spectators it would be quite easy to celebrate or criticise him depending upon his performance in the series. But if we consider from a player's psychological perspective we would understand how difficult it would be for him to face not only a bunch of eleven players but also a noisy crowd and possibly his own inner demons too. Doesn't matter how big his achievements are, in situations like these he is ought to feel nervous. It would require immense mental toughness to go and face the world. I am sure he must be doing that for a while now.
A sportsperson's journey is always not just about the on field heroics, but successfully navigating situations like these too. A true leader has to face many such situations in life and how they come out victorious is the true test of their character. Steve Smith has nothing to prove to anybody anymore standing at this juncture of his career. But this tour would definitely remind him of an unfinished business that he surely would like to complete before saying goodbye to his beloved game. Come 9th October and the entire cricketing world would be keen to know the proceedings at Durban cricket ground. No need to mention that special attention will be on the person wearing Baggy Green cap 415.
Fighting Against The Odds All The Time
Second story is about an unsung Indian cricketer who was once tipped to be one of the best in the business but multiple factors led to his full potential not being utilized. Sanju Samson has been around now for a decade since he first came into Indian cricketing landscape as a talented teenager. A string of non consistent performances and at times questionable selection calls have not made his life easier during the majority period of his career. You are not selected due to under performance is comparatively easier to accept than warming benches despite being in top form. His potential was never in doubt but somewhere down the line he couldn't hit the benchmark that some of his counterparts set. Mentally it would have been difficult for him to continue putting work despite not seeing the results.
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| Samson's international career has been a real roller-coaster Image Credit: Anand Anil, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons |
A leadership role in IPL team Rajasthan Royals where his cricketing skills got a whole new dimension kind of gave a fresh lease of life to a cricketer who is striving for greatness. Leadership saw him becoming calmer while dealing with his players or tackling crunch match situations. This 2.0 version of Sanju was a treat to watch. In fact that version of him made him an irreplaceable part of Indian T20I setup. His destructive combination with Abhishek Sharma at the top of the batting order was one of the major factors behind India's dominance in the shortest format of the game.
Despite consistent performances he remained the one who had to face the scrutiny on odd failures. His batting position always became the front runner to be sacrificed to try out any sort of experiment with a new comer. Few unimpressive performances saw him loosing his place in the playing eleven just before the T20 World cup earlier this year before making a comeback in the middle order and eventually regaining his usual position at the top of the order. His player of the tournament performance in India's second consecutive World cup triumph seemed like enough to silent his critics for a while.
We all know how challenging it is for any player to get a place in the Indian cricket team on a regular basis. But when a player of Samson's calibre doesn't get his due despite producing best of results it seems like somewhere down the line the system has failed. Most of the time his omission from the team has been wrapped under the excuse of ideal team combination. Despite such an outstanding performance in the triumphant World cup campaign followed by couple of IPL hundreds he once again had to warm the benches in the recently concluded T20I series against England. Shockingly this time his omission was justified to accommodate the 15 year old kid Vaibhav Suryavanshi who was in red hot form. But the omission was short lived since he got slotted back to the playing eleven after three games. Even coach Gambhir admitted recently that dropping Samson during the series was one of the toughest decisions of his tenure so far (Click here for full article on Gambhir's statement). But the question remains the same. Why one player who has proved his mettle at the big stage time and again has to face such selection ordeals every now and then compared to others?
Kudos to Sanju for still keeping his calm and work on his game. It takes immense mental strength to tackle such strange situations. It's not easy to get on the field & perform with a thought of getting dropped after an odd or two bad performances. Cricket is a competitive game and while representing your country the competition becomes more fierce to get a place in the playing eleven.
In even more strange sequence of events when World cup winning captain Surya was shockingly removed from the team Sanju was not even considered for a leadership role despite proving his worth in recent times. There have been many players who probably didn't get fair opportunities to prove their worth for the national team. But Samson's case is slightly different since he got a fair run but with a sword always hanging on his head. Kind of maturity he has shown over the years to tackle somewhat unfair treatment of him will take him far in this journey. Sanju's on & off field calmness is one of his major strengths to handle such situations. Age being on his side he should continue to flourish in the shortest format of the game for team India. If not a warrior like him will definitely push harder and continue to prove his critics wrong.
Stay tuned for more at this space.
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