Life Lesson from an IPL Innings

I am an avid cricket buff, which comes very organically to me being an Indian. Cricket not only connects people here but we derive a lot of life lessons , if we look at this sport in a certain way. It is a sport which is a mix of hard work, dedication, pitch conditions, climate, opposition preparedness, toss of a coin, quality of on-field umpiring and even the colour of ball ( white or red).

This makes it very clear that some of the factors are controllable and some are not. Hence a lot of mental preparedness and strength of character will come into play to decide the quality you have to survive this game. Things will not go your way even if you control lot of the things that you can.

One of recent innings which gave me a life lesson was a match between two teams in IPL - Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Kings 11 Punjab (KK11). KK11 gave a target that was the highest ever total in an IPL game and if RR were to win it, they will have to break this record on the same day.

There is no depth of talent in both teams and going by that , RR can win this, with belief and faith in abilities.

What happens? ( A summary)

While RR started very well- they lost their captain at a crucial point and at this moment the team management decides to send a young player , who goes by the name " Rahul Tewatia" ahead of some players who are more recognised. Decision is debatable because the game is evenly poised and it can easily go anyway. Tewatia for most of the time is unable to get the ball going and with me and others including professional commentators watching this match, and many such matches before, can swear by their experience that this match will be lost very soon. Everyone looses their patience , even the most patient ones, when Tewatia is building up pressure on the other batsman who is still hitting the ball very well, by not able to get going when he comes to bat. He consumes almost 30% of the remaining balls with a dismal rate but he is not ready to give up his wicket to let the next player come in. Finally his partner is out and up comes the next player who everyone was waiting for. He starts scoring some runs and everyone, including me, are sure that Tewatia has lost them this game . Just three overs left ( 18 balls) and 54 runs are needed. Believe me Tewatia plays the third last over and hits 30 runs of it that includes 5 sixes off a very quality fast bowler- which just comes out of the blue. He changes the whole game in 6 balls, and even his own team members are in disbelief.His face expression is still the same - someone who is unsure of what he has done. His team wins it unbelievingly. The match and his innings will be remembered for a long time and he too for reminding us of the magic that can happen anywhere provided we believe in it.

What is the lesson?

It is not about the sport or technique or the statistics. It is about how we behaved with a player who is new and judged him. We all misread and misinterpreted not only a player but also the human spirit. We all neglected the strength that anyone can have inside him/her and put the game statistics ahead of that. Judging someone comes so easy to us and then terming the end result as something which has happened for the first time , is nothing but taking off the blame of our heads.

Let us be at-least strong enough to admit that we are addicted in passing judgements and we really need to work on it. How can we try to at-least delay our judgemental habits , if not finish it ? There is a lot of awareness required to do that. Lot of subconscious mind training.

How many times we do this in our day to day life by assuming and judging people or situations too early. We react and do not respond. At least with this match, I have decided to just remember this inning and remind myself of the mistake I made.

Tewatia said, that the first 20 balls he faced, was the worst he has played in his life. Well, those balls and those moments were the worst we have judged that fantastic player. When we are stressed, our vision usually becomes narrow in proportion to the limitations we have with our biases and our life experiences.Only way to improve this is to practice awareness. This blog is an apology from me to "Tewatia" for not believing in him and the possibilities that existed. It will also remind me of the beautiful strength we all have and which we tend to forget . It is all about " Mind over Matter"

Few lines which summarises this learning, written by "Poet in white"- Gulzar -

है नहीं जो दिखाई देता है,

आईने पर छपा हुआ चेहरा

तजुर्बा आईने का ठीक नहीं II

Here is another interesting video, to take something forward with us.

With warn wishes and positive vibes always

NK