da dobrowin： Close to 30 coaches from around India gathered in Chennai for the MRF Coaches Seminar, where there was a chance to pick an unusual list of cricketers
da winzada777： Anand Vasu29-Jun-2003Close to 30 coaches from around India gathered in Chennai for the MRF Coaches Seminar, where there was a chance to pick an unusual list of cricketers. Not the ten best batsmen of all time, not the ten best bowlers, not captains. Initiated by Sandy Gordon, probably the most influential sports psychologist involved with cricket, this diverse group of coaches attempted to define that much sought after concept – mental toughness – in the Indian context.The group of coaches assembled included chairman of selectors Brijesh Patel, Madan Lal, Ashok Malhotra, Nari Contractor and Chandrakant Pandit among other former Indian cricketers. In an interactive session that followed his speech, Gordon asked the group to identify ten Indian cricketers – in recent memory – who they believed were mentally tough.Although by no means exhaustive, the list makes interesting reading:Sunil Gavaskar
Mohinder Amarnath
Dilip Vengsarkar
Kapil Dev
Sachin Tendulkar
Ravi Shastri
Rahul Dravid
Anil Kumble
Bishan Singh Bedi
Gundappa ViswanathThere were a few murmurs in the room as the names of SrinivasVenkataraghavan, Vinoo Mankad and Syed Kirmani failed to make thecut.As ever in the background, Indian coach John Wright watched withinterest and, before he knew it, was put on the spot. When askedabout mental toughness in the Indian context, Wright underscoreda vital point. “Just like there’s so much skill in Indiancricket, there’s mental toughness too. There’s belief andconfidence when we play at home. But we tend to be mentally tough, rather than just mentally tough. Take the caseof the last home series against Australia – we were mentally verytough.”He went on to reinforce a point Gordon made repeatedly. “We haveto make the players understand that mental toughness is alearning process. We have to show players that they candevelop these mental skills. Kaif and Yuvraj at Lord’s (inthe NatWest final against England) was a case of that. Eventhough we were four down and chasing a huge target they threw allthe negatives out of the window. That was mental toughness.”
