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Indians’ Mental Strength Will Be The Key Factor





A long, tiring season culminating in a disastrous tour to New Zealand fully exposed the Indian cricket team on the eve of the World Cup. For a change, the technique, the pitch and a usually controversial selection of the team are not so much of a talking point. This time around, it is the mental factor of the players that will play a crucial role in South Africa.

There is hardly anything new expected from a team that has played throughout the year with all sorts of experimentation. Of course, the Eleven will have to fight it out on the square, but the team management will have to place greater emphasis outside the field for the players to perform well inside.

Unfortunately, in the run up to the World Cup, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) laid more emphasis on the controversial contract issue and other commercial interests. There has been no talk of performing well or winning the Cup, which India did so magnificently in 1983. Even for a crucial New Zealand tour, little imagination and thought were applied.

BCCI sent an official of the Railway Sports Promotion Board with the Indian team as manager. Can a political appointee or potential voter to the bosses of the BCCI, not even remotely connected with cricket, steer the team at the crucial juncture? True, the likes of Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble don’t need to be chaperoned around. They don’t even need lessons in cricket, surely not on the eve of the Cup. But they are human beings and do need counsel and a friendly pep-up talk when down and in despair like they were in New Zealand. But hoping for this to come from a nondescript manager, like the one that accompanied the team, was like asking for the moon.

According to a top sports expert, working with a leading global consulting firm, “The Indian players in New Zealand were a pathetic sight.” The consultant, who specially flew down from New York to New Zealand, found the Indian players “tired and battered”. But according to him, they had no clue on how to tackle the situation. “I tried explaining to them the need for a good psychologist, but barring Dravid, no one seemed interested in what I was saying,” the consultant said. BCCI did finally appoint a South African psychologist for the team, but wisdom has dawned on the board a bit too late. Such a short stint (only for the duration of the World Cup), and that too so late may not help the players a great deal.

However, there is time still for the Indian team to forget the New Zealand blues and think of the moments it delivered. So much has been written and said about the disastrous tour that the team can now only go upward. And this might act in the team’s favour. No one seems to have confidence in the team, which in a way might take the load of pressure off the players. At top level competition, be it cricket or any other game, the team least expected to win almost always performs well.

There is nothing majorly wrong with the team. It has a solid batting line up and a reasonably good and experienced attack. What it needs is proper handling of the team and planning like the boardroom meeting of a top corporate house. After all, cricket in India is no more a mere sport. It is an industry with several thousand crores of rupees at stake, be it players’ endorsements, TV rights or sponsorships.

Having Australia, Pakistan, England with them in Pool B, India has a rather difficult task to make it to the Super Six round, where three teams from each pool clash on their way to the semi-finals. But with Pakistan having gone down drastically, India can hope to beat them and and make it to the Super Six along with Australia and England. The other teams in Pool B are Zimbabwe, Holland and Namibia. If India manages to enter the Super Six, it has an outside chance for a Cup victory.

The ray of hope comes from none other than the sensational batsman, Sachin Tendulkar. He is quite positive about India’s chances. In a recent TV show, the master blaster said, “From 1999 to 2000, you see seven names missing from the team that’s a huge change. And for a team to just get into the World Cup with so many changes, it is going to be difficult. But we have done well in the recent past—that’s because we have some promising talent.” One sincerely hopes the talent turns into the Cup that cheers.