The Cricket World Cup is about to start. Every team is preparing its strategies and moves for the game. However, the real principles for winning the game remain to be discovered and analysed. Why some teams are able to outperform? Why some teams are able to withstand stress and pressure? Every team tries to put in the best efforts, but only a few are able to make it.

When a relatively poor team won an important national level trophy through fierce competition, it was a matter of surprise for many but a matter of study for me. While others attributed it to chance factor, I considered it a planned and a well organised initiative that must be studied. In a curiosity, I asked the team manager, who had played a silent but important role in this achievement. The answers are something to be shared with everyone.

Every Player is Important

It is important to interact with every player and understand his thinking and let him identify and play his role in the game. These moments are the golden moments for every player and they wish to concentrate on the most important issue i.e. game. However, sometimes petty issues create problems and a player is unnecessarily involved in those issues, which would spoil the game. The team manager asserted, “I would ensure that I would talk to every player daily and make him feel important and let him feel that his role is a very important role in the game. Even if he is not able to perform well or kept as extra player, it doesn’t mean that the player would lose value. I would talk to each and everyone and give them the feeling that they can change the destiny of the game.”

No Matter is a Personal Matter

“I took it a point to take extra attention of every player, whether it be stay arrangement or personal issue. I made it a point that the players should concentrate only on the game and all other issues are my problems. To give you an example, when one player was getting anxious due to illness of his daughter, I took all the responsibility of medical check-up by the best available doctor and told him to forget this issue. I made all efforts to ensure that best of medical care and the best of support services are provided to the daughter of the player. Constant support and care helps and it is noticed by people. Just before the match was starting, I showed him that his daughter was again jumping and playing and this was something he couldn’t believe. The player put his soul in the game and it helped the team in winning the game.”

Focus on Game, not on media

He further added that it is the unnecessary media coverage and hype that creates stress for a player. He asserted saying, “I ensured that whenever it was any media related matter or talk to a media representative, I would personally handle the issue so that no player gets involved in any tangle and every player is able to concentrate just on the game.”

The thoughtprocess in the mind of a player decides the fate of the game, and therefore , ensuring a stress free and focused approach to game is critical to success of any team. Let’s wish that every team is able to put in the best efforts and is able to keep itself above the narrow issues, which usually surface in such tournaments.