4 things to learn from Adam Gilchrist
On 30th October'12 a very renowned batsman/wicket keeper of Australia, Adam Gilchrist visited to our university Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University on account of MoU Signing Ceremony with University of Wollongong,NSW, Australia. Adam Gilchrist is the brand ambassador of University of Wollongong. It was always my childhood fantasy to see some of the great cricketing players, specially those who i grew up watching, and even now. I would like to share some of my thoughts about how Gilly led his life and what made him special to come in my top cricketing idol list.
• Be positive:
When Gilchrist went out to bat, all of us knew what was he going to produce. The more time he spend at the crease, the more opposition were forced to believe they couldn't bounce back into the game. This is because Adam always backed himself to play his own natural game and to come out in a positive frame of mind. If he wouldn't did that then how would we see the best of Gilly ?
• Stay fair/honest to yourself (sportsmanship):
In about 250 years of cricket (or more), there are very few batsmen who would start "walking" to the pavilion without even waiting for the umpire declare the result of the appeal. If Gilly knew that he had knocked the ball or a candidate for leg before or was OUT by any means then he wouldn't wait at the crease for a second and would start walking back to the dressing room, and this attitude of his reflected honesty and righteousness towards his life and the true sportsmanship with which he played the cricket.
• Have a Role-model in life:
Gilly briefly described a childhood incidence in his speech during the MoU signing ceremony; When he was a small kid, he once went to SCG to see the cricket match. As a teenage cricketer, he used to fantasise himself by seeing the game very closely. During this day when he was sitting in the balcony of SCG(Sydney Cricket Ground), he manage to get the attraction of the then wicket keeper of Australia, Rodney Marsh (when the Australian team was arriving at the ground); as soon as he realised the attention of his childhood hero, Gilly immediately waved to him in full of excitement. In reply even Rod Marsh also waved. The kind of response that Gilly got during that time, motivated him so much that he started believing that one day he would be the wicket-keeper of Australia, and from then on wards he focused all his attention in achieving that goal, and the rest is history...
• Be innovative to succeed:
During the world cup 2007 in West Indies, Australia had a chance to make a "hatrick" of winning the world cup. They were the prime contenders, and they hold on to their expectations. But, Gilly didn't clicked as batsman or as a opener who could give them a flying start. Probably he was struggling with his technique. Just before the night of the world cup semi-final he talked with his personal batting coach, and he said that he should use a squash ball under his gloves so that his left hand could be slightly above the bottom most part of the handle, and upon swinging he could get the full trajectory during the "swing" without any hindrance and could find his timing. He tried in the semi-final but unfortunately he was out 2nd ball !! But, still he backed him-self to do the same thing in the final (if they progress to final). And finally during the final he rose to the occasion and made a blistering and firing 149 of mere 104 balls !! And put his team in a commanding position in the final. This is something which gave a serious thought to the cricketing Pandits' and experts' mind as nobody thought of overcoming this "limited handle" with a "Squash ball theory".
A year later on, in 2008-09 in IPL, his former One-Day opening partner brought a mangoose bat (the bat with longer handle), just to obtain the full swing of the bat and batted in the 5th gear.
The Kohli Way - Revive the Work Ethics in your Life
You must be aware about the word-connection game, in which the quiz master would quickly throw a word and demand the appropriate connecting word in reply. So, when somebody says "Virat Kohli", what exactly comes to your mind ? I know majority of people would say "Arrogant", "Stylish", "Mr. Dependable" or "Talented". But my perceptual experience right from the beginning was his attitude and the swagger that he carried on the field or off the field. Holding the bat up right, charging towards the pitch from dressing room, provoking the opposition through his personality, frightful eyes looking at the bowler alike cobra hypnotising it's prey, rolling the bat through his wrist before taking his stance as if a starved and lusted man is flapping his fork before the meal.
This is the attitude that any ordinary fan loves to see from the sportsperson. But, these characteristics don't come of all a sudden in ones life. You must have to gone through the transition period, the time that would cast you, mold you to be as hard as you have never been and as skillful as you have never thought. This is the toughest part. For Kohli, the death of his beloved father at the brink of his adulthood, sacking from the Indian side, consistently poor form in test cricket in his early days made him tougher and consistent in all formats of the game which can be complemented from the famous English saying, "When the going gets tough, only the tough gets going".
2007 was the year that brought Kohli into limelight in the form of 'future of Indian cricket'. Consequently that particular year was the one in which Indian cricket saw sudden growth after the humiliation in the world cup in West Indies. BCCI started taking T20 more seriously after India won the T-20 world cup and as a result IPL emerged. They see IPL as the platform for budding cricketers and year later it became the benchmark for the selection in the national side. Rohit Sharma, Murali Vijay, Ravi Ashwin & co. were the IPL products who were raring to go to represent India in blue. IPL introduced professionalism in Indian cricket. Some were able to digest it and walk off, but there were a few who were distracted. Kohli was one of them.Kohli himself readily admitted to committing mistakes and walking the wrong path in the immediate aftermath of becoming only the second India captain to win the Under-19 World Cup in 2008 and youngest cricketer in his franchise in IPL. His lack of form and brash attitude sacked him from the Indian team. But, this proved to be his rebirth in the form of mature Cricketer and a consistent run making machine. The thing that separates Kohli from most other batsmen is his work ethics. It is his humility and passion for the game that adds consistency. It itself takes a lot of metal to concentrate on the game and put always an extra hour in the nets/training session when at his age people spend a lot of time in partying around. Many have remembered his consistent form during 2012-13 and also in current Border-Gavaskar trophy but hardly anyone is aware of his manoeuvres. Specially in the home-test against Australia. As quoted by his childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma, "Virat didn't take a single off day during the weeks prior to the series. He would every day bat for around two to two and half hours at the nets. He started leaving a lot of deliveries, something he wasn't doing due to excessive one day cricket." His preparation to face Aussie's fast bowlers was to bat by Shortening the pitch by two yards which would mean that reaction time for the batsman would be less. Also the bowler, whose normal speed is in 130 kmph would be able to add on a few yards of pace. Kohli was quickly rewarded of his efforts in the 1st test match itself when he scored a patient and well deserving century.
This is the attitude that any ordinary fan loves to see from the sportsperson. But, these characteristics don't come of all a sudden in ones life. You must have to gone through the transition period, the time that would cast you, mold you to be as hard as you have never been and as skillful as you have never thought. This is the toughest part. For Kohli, the death of his beloved father at the brink of his adulthood, sacking from the Indian side, consistently poor form in test cricket in his early days made him tougher and consistent in all formats of the game which can be complemented from the famous English saying, "When the going gets tough, only the tough gets going".
2007 was the year that brought Kohli into limelight in the form of 'future of Indian cricket'. Consequently that particular year was the one in which Indian cricket saw sudden growth after the humiliation in the world cup in West Indies. BCCI started taking T20 more seriously after India won the T-20 world cup and as a result IPL emerged. They see IPL as the platform for budding cricketers and year later it became the benchmark for the selection in the national side. Rohit Sharma, Murali Vijay, Ravi Ashwin & co. were the IPL products who were raring to go to represent India in blue. IPL introduced professionalism in Indian cricket. Some were able to digest it and walk off, but there were a few who were distracted. Kohli was one of them.Kohli himself readily admitted to committing mistakes and walking the wrong path in the immediate aftermath of becoming only the second India captain to win the Under-19 World Cup in 2008 and youngest cricketer in his franchise in IPL. His lack of form and brash attitude sacked him from the Indian team. But, this proved to be his rebirth in the form of mature Cricketer and a consistent run making machine. The thing that separates Kohli from most other batsmen is his work ethics. It is his humility and passion for the game that adds consistency. It itself takes a lot of metal to concentrate on the game and put always an extra hour in the nets/training session when at his age people spend a lot of time in partying around. Many have remembered his consistent form during 2012-13 and also in current Border-Gavaskar trophy but hardly anyone is aware of his manoeuvres. Specially in the home-test against Australia. As quoted by his childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma, "Virat didn't take a single off day during the weeks prior to the series. He would every day bat for around two to two and half hours at the nets. He started leaving a lot of deliveries, something he wasn't doing due to excessive one day cricket." His preparation to face Aussie's fast bowlers was to bat by Shortening the pitch by two yards which would mean that reaction time for the batsman would be less. Also the bowler, whose normal speed is in 130 kmph would be able to add on a few yards of pace. Kohli was quickly rewarded of his efforts in the 1st test match itself when he scored a patient and well deserving century.
Kohli has showed the importance of work ethics and attitude in life. There is still a lot to come from him, in a 'Virat' way - no need to mention that.
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