The balancing dilemma with Mr. Rishabh Pant.

Since the ICC CWC 2019 and incidentally after MS Dhoni not appearing in the Indian Jersey for approximately 6-months (as of 31st Jan 2020) numerous articles, debates & opinions have been shared upon India’s next wicket-keeper. After the CWC 2019, Indian Team has played total of 35 matches with the following format break-up,

• 19-T20I Matches (vs SA, BAN, WI [Home & Away], SL & NZ [on-going series]).
• 9-ODI Matches (vs WI [Home & Away], AUS)
• 7-TEST Matches (vs WI [Away], SA & BAN)

In these 35 matches, we have seen 4-wicket keepers in action namely Mr. Wridhiman Saha, Mr. Rishabh Pant, Mr. Sanju Samson & Mr. KL Rahul, with the following break-up (presence as a WK in the playing 11.),

Having said that, 23 out of 35 matches (as of as of 30th Jan 2020) is 65.7%, which means Mr. Pant has been given considerable number of chances to prove his worth. I am damn sure he knows his worth & value he brings on the table for any team. The reason of this surety is the knock against England at The Oval in 2018, 2nd Innings where he scored 114 (146) spending 194 minutes on the crease hitting 15-fours & 4-sixes followed by a brilliant 159* (189) against Australia in 2019 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. That’s when everyone shifted their focus & started giving him these chances so he can be groomed in-order to be the specialist wicket-keeper for India in all 3-formats.

Being a professional cricketer, it is expected that the player will face his/her up & downs at the International stature, everyone including the legends have been through that phase. The only thing that remained with them was their ability to immediately get back to basics & rise to be even stronger. Being an Indian cricketer the criticism is much higher & even more when you are replacing one of the greatest in the list of international wicket-keepers Mr. MS Dhoni.

My sole reason here is to discuss a few enhancements as per my observation which could help Mr. Pant get back in to the National Squad as soon as possible. Candidly speaking, I am not an expert in training, coaching or technical analysis as there are people who are experts in this domain but I could point out such mistakes because I have made them too while playing college level, club level & corporate level matches. There are phases & certain rituals which each athlete follows, which is developed over the years & through constant focus for them to stay focused & be in the zone of performing better than anyone else (no matter who is it).

Mr. Rafael Nadal aka “The King of Clay” has his own ritual before serving or playing any point which is adjusting his outfit, wiping off the sweat on & around his face, and for the serving part it would end with tapping the ball on the court for a few (generally 4-5) times, taking his time to get the flow correct before each serve.

In cricket, the factors or the rituals in my opinion would be

(a) The stance (for batsman) | Starting point (for bowler & the fielder), (b)  pre-delivery actions & reactions of a bowler or a batsman or a fielder, (c) watching the ball for any last minute tricks, (d) trigger movement, (e) Watching the ball till it makes contact with the bat (for batsman & fielders) or hits the deck (for bowlers), (f) maintaining the balance with body position, (g) Execute the shot or deliver the ball with a follow-through.

Every player has these rituals embedded as part of their daily routine or as the athletes call it “being in a cocoon” or a “protective shield” to ensure only relevant information passes through which will help them get their performance better than the last one. The rituals are not just restricted to practice sessions or match-day preparations but are part of the daily routine which would amplify the effect of creating a positive environment around the athletes & helping in building a team atmosphere. It would help in creating a balance b/w professional & private life, which is very essential for elite players in this digital era. For instance, Mr. Simon Taufel in his book “Finding the Gaps” talks about some of his rituals for practice days, match days & how that helped him develop a bond with his teammates & players from different teams both on & off the field.

I have often heard legendary Mr. Sunil Gavaskar while commentating International Matches, when a player hits a perfect shot or as he calls it “the text book shot”. So what does a “text-book-shot mean?

A perfect mix of timing, posture & balance.

Talking about the basics for any sport, the first and foremost thing which has to be focused in the “balance”. One of the most important aspects of both life & the sport. If perfectly utilized it would do wonders & if left alone can toss our lives like a coin in the air while we live our moments predicting the outcome rather than living them & enjoying the moments with our families, team mates, etc. The concern with Mr. Pant is his balance. We can clearly see in the pictures that Mr. Pant is off-balance playing some of his shots.

In the last picture (apologies for the picture quality), we can see his head drops well before he is making contact b/w the bat & the ball, which is why he is not able to generate the amount of power which is should if the body stays in-line, where is foot reaches the ball giving him a perfect balance & an energetic shot, which would obviously give a chance to spectators to fell in love with his gigantic-out-of-the-park shots all over again. How about we “look at the posture” of the run-machine of Indian Cricket Mr. Virat Kohli [this is only an illustration, comparing the postures of two athletes & it is not meant to judge who is better & who is not].

Mr. Kohli as we all know is one of the players who makes you fell in love with his shot, also taking nothing away from Mr. Pant we have seen him playing the game of patience in England & in Australia & that is why the things are expected from him. He has played those marvelous cover drives or as well have heard commentators saying “the typical lefty elegant drive”.

There is an interesting discussion on Cricbuzz in Hindi where Mr. Ajay Jadeja, Mr. Virender Sehwag & Mr. Gaurav Kapur are discussing about their concerns related to inclusion of Mr. Pant in the 15-squad but why not in the playing-11 since India has already won the series 4-0 today. Interestingly Mr. Gaurav Kapur mentioned a point which is from the selectors point of views about the 65.7% chances that have been given to Mr. Pant in the matches post CWC 2019 but Mr. Sehwag points out the amount of changes that have happened with Mr. Pant considering the white-ball playing side & the red-ball playing side for different series (refer to chart of the list of wicket-keepers played since August 2019), which puts a player under tremendous pressure & doubt about his/her role in the team & expectations. (shared by Mr. Praseeth Prakash my batchmate from SSSS, Pune).

But as an International player specially in a country like India where the bench strength is as strong as the playing 11 and if given a chance, players who come-in as temporary replaements can make the best of the chance & make their spot permanent for a considerable amount of matches until they are under the same pressure as the replaced player has been. This is a similar case with Mr. KL Rahul who has performed both as a batsman & a keeper to give India Team a strong foundation in almost 5-matches now (including AUS & NZ) that the team management is thinking twice before making any significant change to the winning squad. This is a typical case of what we all call it "part & parcel of the game" & happens to anyone including the legends of the sport.

Coming back to Mr Kohli be it net sessions, training time or the real-game scenario the “intensity” is same & there is absolutely no-compromise on that. He would do the drills, play the ball & even run around to take those catches as he would be doing for an India vs New Zealand ODI or a Bangladesh vs India Test Match. Controlling his shots where he is looking for a correct posture which would give him confidence, power for better judgement instead of just a “beautiful looking shot” from the outside which has no power & no intensity.

That intensity & imagination, even the viewers watching the match on TV can feel it when it comes out to bat or takes a spectacular catch or when his bowlers keep taking wickets for the team to win the matches. There are many facts & figures which talk about his performance but the major factor & probably the most crucial one is his thought process & the preparation which he does before the game & his regime which he does post-match, which would generally include cool-down, stretching & a lot of positive talks with his team-matches, opponents, support staff, etc to create that sort of an environment which would not just benefit him & his performance.

That will also influence other players around him to feel the same sort of passion & love for the game (which they already but the levels may differ) and also grasp a little more learning of what went right for him/her & what didn't so the "opportunity for improvement" can make its way into the minds next time when they are preparing & get into similar kind of situation in match & mainly win it from there for the team while making a mark for a long long time in the history.

In a recent interview with Mr. Boria Majumdar on India Today Inspiration, Mr. Hardik Pandya and he shared an incident where Mr. Rahul Dravid said,

There is nothing called a Natural Game, but it’s all sensible & situation based cricket from a player who has certain qualities & capabilities.

Our professor at Symbiosis School of Sports Sciences, Dr. Swaroop Savanur (renowned Mental Conditioning & Performance Coach) helped us understand the cycle of creating the positive attitude for a player to stay in the elite-performance stage for a longer period of time. As per my understanding, the way to start creating that positive environment is by looking at,

(a) various micro-expressions & reactions (both for success & for failure), (b) daily routines & dietary plans, (c) regular session timings & workload (if data is accessible), (d) people he/she interacts with on a day-to-day basis (includes coaches, parents, friends, fans, etc.), (e) sleeping & recovery patterns (Periodic resting for each day, hours of sleep each day, etc), (f) time he/she spends on social media platforms (considering the current digital-era, it is one of the biggest threat to athlete’s peak-performance.), (g) athlete’s long-term & short term goals & objectives. (which have to be in-line with the overall objective of the team for optimum performance delivery.)

Re-iterating the process to get things in-line with our goals & objectives is one of the most crucial & the most difficult part for any human not just an athlete. For athletes, it is even tougher as they have been under that “protective shield” for quite a while which does not get upgraded easily unless we have worked hard enough to be the best version of ourselves to the best of our abilities.

For Mr. Pant, the best possible solution now would be to get back to the domestic games, so he can re-work on his technique & posture rather than extensive focus on hitting the ball out of the park. Because for him, hitting the ball out of the ground won’t be a tough task as that is his natural game but that type of approach does not work for ever & would never give you longevity, will it? If the technique is correct along with a proper posture the things would start changing for him & eventually will be became a valuable asset rather being a liability for any team or franchise he plays for. 

At India Today Inspiration a Very Very Special person Mr. VVS Laxman aka “God of the 4th Innings” talked about his abilities to get back to what he loved the most. He said,

Anyone who is representing their country would not necessarily have started thinking that they want to play ODI, Tests or T2o’s, they started playing the sport because they love that sport & are passionate about it. 

He also talked about what is an enjoyment aspect for an athlete & said,

Enjoyment doesn’t necessarily come only when you win matches, enjoyment is equally important when you bounce back from your setbacks and that reveals the real character of an athlete.

I wish Mr. Pant to feel the enjoyment of getting back stronger & winning matches for India or any team he plays for going forward. I wish he can double or triple the amount of love & passion he has for the sport which can help evolve as a better player & a more composed human being. There is a very powerful dialogue in the movie Never Back Down (2008) & this is in-line with what Mr. Kapil Dev said related to Rishabh Pant (on 26th Jan 2020) asking him to take responsibilities for his own actions & controlling the outcome which says,

It is your responsibility to control the outcome. No matter what happens control the outcome…it’s on you, always has been...

#ICC #BCCI #WicketKeeper #RishabhPant #Inspiration #KapilDev #NeverBackDown #Cricbuzz #Cricket #AthleteDevelopment #TalentManagment #Scouting #WorkloadManagement #PerformanceManagement

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