By Urvi Shah and Ekantika Iyer
Estimated reading time: 10-12 mins
Yesterday (1st Nov 2020), was a double header Sunday at IPL. It wasn’t just another weekend but the most crucial one before the qualifiers. It was a must win game for three teams viz. KXIP, KKR and RR to stay in the run for the playoffs. The first match was between CSK and KXIP where it was extremely important for KXIP to win as it was their last and decider match for the playoffs. The second match was between KKR and RR who were playing their last game of the league before the playoffs. This was also their only chance to make it to the playoffs. Whoever lost this one was out of the run for the playoffs as both the teams were at 12 points and were looking to get to 14 points to be in the run for the playoffs.
In the first match between CSK and KXIP, CSK won the toss and elected to bowl first. KXIP experienced fall of wickets early on in the game. Although they started pretty well, the game began to turn around when Mayank Agarwal got out scoring 26 runs in 15 balls by Lungi Nigdi (4-39-3), followed by KL Rahul after scoring 29 runs in 27 balls. We also saw early dismissal of Nicholas Pooran at just 2 runs in 6 balls. KXIP witnessed a major blow when Chris Gayle got out scoring 12 runs in 19 balls. KXIP batsmen tried to stay at the crease for as long as could, but CSK bowlers were giving them a tough time. Shardul Thakur (4-27-1); Imran Tahir (4-24-1); Ravindra Jadeja (3-17-1) took 1 wicket each, not allowing Punjab to score runs. In spite of good and in-form players getting out within a short period of time, we could also see Deepak Hooda playing a crucial and beautiful knock of 62 runs in 30 balls. Even after a rocky start by KXIP’s batting unit they set a competitive target of 154 runs in 120 balls for CSK. In the second half of the game, CSK opening partners started off with a positive note. They started off with 4s and 6s in the powerplay itself. Around the 10th over, Faf du Plessis got out scoring 48 runs in 34 balls by Chris Jordan (3-31-1). It was a big wicket of Punjab as the bowlers were unable to keep the required run rate under control. CSK with only one wicket lost, won the game in the second last over. Their strategy to bowl tighter and bat well fell into place and the results turned in their favour. With this, it was the last game for both the teams in this tournament of IPL 2020.
Watch the highlights of CSK vs KXIP
In the second match of the double header Sunday, it was KKR facing RR for the last time in the league. With both the teams looking for 2 points in order to stay in the run for playoffs. Toss was very crucial as most of the game plan was depended on that. RR won the toss and chose to bowl first. The game started off pretty well for RR as Jofra Archer picked up an early wicket of Nitish Rana. With tight bowling overs in the powerplay, the game was turning out too be in RR’s favour. It was another Rahul Tewatia show with the ball as he picked up 3 crucial wickets in his spell. It gave a good breakthrough to the team. With Archer and Rahul holding up the bowling attack and the other bowlers giving their best shot too, Eoin Morgan made the difference for the KKR team. His knock of 68 runs in 35 balls made a huge difference in the scoreboard as they at the end of the innings, set a score of 191/7 in 20 overs. In the second innings, it was a strong swing as RR faced a huge blow of losing 5 wickets in the powerplay itself. Felt like history repeated itself once again as the top and middle order crumbled early on in the game. KKR won the game there itself and it was just the matter of winning by high margin. With the other batsmen trying their best to keep the scoreboard running and give it a shot to win the game, the lost some crucial batsmen soon. Pat Cummins was the key bowler for KKR as he picked up 4 wickets in his spell. With more than 60 runs to chase in overs, the dream of RR to be in the playoffs started to seem lost. KKR won the game by 60 runs and claimed the 2 points to be in the run for the playoffs. Its only after the MI vs SRH game we will get to know which teams are going to make it to the playoffs.
Watch the highlights for KKR vs RR
Yesterday’s games were not just about being in the playoffs or who is winning and what’s happening in the tournament but more of how the teams responds to the pressure and the situation at hand.
Did you get the similarity yet?
Its almost the same way we have to be in life. We are always faced by situations and it depends on how we respond to the stressful situation when we are faced by one. Sometimes everyone we meet is in a similar space, looking for a way out of it and sometimes its about holding it together and focusing on how you will find your way out of it. As we know that our past experiences do play a role in how we respond the the situation at hand, our mental toughness and grit also plays a role in the way we respond and work our way through the situations.
What does that mean? How does that impact our response?
When an individual has perseverance (ability to continuously put in effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition) and passion to achieve their goals is known as Grit. In other words, having the ability to keep going even when things are not in your favour and you still have a strong determination to reach the desired goal. People who are usually gritty have a strong desire to excel and thrive for the best. Thus, they indulge themselves in their goals and trying to achieve it.
These kind of people know that being successful does not happen overtime. They are well aware and are ready to face every kind of obstacles during the course. Such individuals are so focused in attaining a particular goal that they tend to forget about other things. For example, if a person who is passionate and persevere about football, he or she only focuses on football. Instead of trying new things, they tend to put their heart and soul into the game. These kind of people always believe in “Can do” thought i.e. even after continuous failure, you will achieve success one day. The thought of giving up eventually, does not come into their minds ever! They are so focused to attain their goals, which helps to perceive their career path in a long-term perspective, how committed they are towards their goals, how highly ambitious they can be, failures teaches them to become resilient, etc. Gritty people are also high on intrinsic motivation. The more you are committed towards your goal, the more motivated you will feel.
It’s not just grit that helps you in achieving your goals as whichever field you choose, there are people around you with same kind of passion and potential to achieve their goals. If we now see this in case of the tournament, every team is passionate and doing their best. Every team is best in their games, then what along with having grit would help you in performing better under pressure? The answer to this is Mental toughness. Mental toughness and grit enhances your performance in sports as well as your life. We all play some or the other kind of sports in life. It is advisable to play at least one outdoor sport in life by various personalities.
Sports is often stressful in competitive scenarios. If you replace sports with your respective field, its equally competitive. We have to constantly keep trying and face rejections and failures too. With the constant emphasis on winning, doing our best, getting that trophy, being at number one position, it gets stressful at times. We have to manage the feelings and stress, have the ability to positively interpret the events, be calm and relaxed under pressure situation along with managing the emotions we are feeling at that time. These are all the characteristics of mental toughness. However, mental toughness is dependent on the situational factor such as pressure, adversity and stress.
Individuals who are mentally tough, have the ability to comeback after a setback due to the motivation to succeed, has an unshakable belief in their abilities and perform under pressure and achieve their goals in competition, are not negatively affected by other’s good or poor performance, does not let personal issues distract them from the task at hand and have the psychological control during the uncontrollable event that occur. We can learn this through our experiences and adapting to different skill sets. These is what we need in our life even if we are in no competition.
Grit and mental toughness together makes an athlete better and helps in achieving their goals and even if it is not sports, this also help us in our day to day life and in our workspace.
The way CSK and KKR played, it was a representation of these qualities in the team.
Key takeaways from this game:
- Its all about how you respond to the pressure and stay calm and perform mindfully.
- Mental toughness can change the situation at any time.
- If you are motivated from within to perform your best, you tend to work through the pressure and perform to your best ability.
- Grit plays a role in how you perform in your respective fields.