In Search of Excellence

In a recent interview to thewisdenCricketer, Sachin talks about his state of mind when he plays at his best.  He says that he bats at his best when he is still in mind and body, when he clears his mind and doesn’t think about past or future and lets his natural instincts take over. I believe these are powerful lessons from the little master to all of us, regardless of our profession.

Here is the part in the interview that caught my attention:

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After two decades playing international cricket, how has he so ruthlessly accumulated these runs? “The secret to batting is to stay still and just react to what the bowler has done,” he says, making it all sound simple. “You have to be still both in your mind and physically. It is so important that your mind is not full of a lot of thoughts because your reaction time is not going to be good. You have to keep your mind blank.

 ”The toughest thing is to clear your mind. The mind always wants to be in the past or the future; it rarely wants to be in the present. My best batting comes when my mind is in the present, but it doesn’t happen naturally. You have to take yourself there. I am not able to get in that zone as often as I would like, but when you are there you don’t see anything except the bowler and the ball. You have to allow your instincts to take over. Trust me, your instincts are 99% right, but you know, the older I get the more I realise how important your breathing is to good batting. By that I mean, if you focus on breathing and relaxing, you can force yourself into a comfortable place to bat.”

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Here is an excerpt from Harsha Bhogle’s talk at one of the IIM’s. IT gives an insight into Sachin’s mind and an insight into why he is one of the greats.

Indian cricket team just won test series in England. This was done by collective team-effort and without a coach. So after the debacle in the world cup, the team seems to have improved for the better. But Indian cricket team does this often: loose badly, then win a little.

Why does not the Indian team win consistently? I came across an article about the ‘Center of Excellence’ run by Cricket Australia. After reading the article I am actually wondering how does the Indian Cricket team manage to win even a single match?

Here is the article:

http://www.livemint.com/2007/08/17235811/Stay-on-the-edge-by-looking-fo.html

Let’s look at BCCI. Indian team does not have a coach right now. BCI does not believe in technology (not even a laptop). Players are selected based on the regional quotas not on performance. Many members (if not all) of the selection committee have not even played a single international game.

Now look at Cricket Australia, they are running a ‘Center of Excellence’.  They have 5-6 people doing research on “How to reduce injuries’ and ‘How to improve performance’. these guys first found out that if 2 fielders run after a ball there is a possibility that a run can be saved as one fielder can pick up and scoop the ball to the second fielder who in turn will relay it back to the wicket keeper. They are now working on creating a vertual warm-up machine where the batsmen can face the rival team’s bowlers before facing them for real.

 Winning in sport (or in any field for that matter) is about living on the edge and constantly pushing the envelope. Winning as a team requires good processes, practise routines, use of technology to help every member of the team improve.

The Indian team wins because of one or two extra ordinary contributions instead of team efforts. BCCI certainly has nothing to do with it.

Milind