Urvi Shah
In the final game of the league, it was Trailblazers vs Supernovas at Sharjah. It was the thrilling Trailblazers facing the two times champions Supernovas in the last deciding game of the league. Supernovas won the toss and chose to bat first.
With a win in the previous game and a successful display of a dominating bowling unit, Trailblazers took this opportunity with a smile. However, the batting unit of Supernovas was all in to win this game by setting a high score for the chasing team. With Athapaththu (67 runs in 48 balls) and Priyan Punia (30 runs in 37 balls) opening the game, they built a steady partnership of 89 runs. Soon the Captain Harmanpreet Kaur (31 runs in 29 balls) joined Athapaththu on the field. After the second wicket, we saw the trailblazers coming back in the game as the wickets started falling quickly and the batting unit found it difficult to keep rotating the strike. Supernovas however, pulled the game till the last ball and were all out at 146 in 20 overs. The bowling unit however put up a great fight and came back stronger in the game after having a not so good start.
In the second innings, we saw the Trailblazers’ batting unit started off well but lost their first wicket right after the power play. With Smriti Mandhana (captain) leading from the front, all eyes were on her. After some good cricketing shots, she lost her wicket to Anuja Patil (4-0-18-1) after scoring 33 runs in 40 balls. The game suddenly felt difficult as they lost another wicket in a short span. It was Deepti Sharma (43*) and Harleen Deol (27 runs in 15 balls) who changed the game for the team. Their partnership got the team closer to the target. However at 19.5 Harleen lost her wicket and it seems difficult for the Trailblazers to seal this one with a win. The Supernovas’ bowling unit did a phenomenal job as they were able to defend the score and win the game by 2 runs. The last over was the crucial one as the bowler Radha Yadav had to defend 10 runs in 6 balls with both Deepti and Harleen on the crease and in form. The credit for the win goes to the bowler as she was successful in restricting them from scoring those 10 runs and also picked up a wicket there. The calmness and the way the team soaked in the pressure and performed, getting the chasing team to the last over, so close to the target and still winning it by 2 runs was a clear display of talent and passion.
Watch the highlight of this super trilling match here!!!
We have seen such close games in Men’s IPL a lot this year. We have also seen some one side games. The way both the teams played yesterday just showed how much of talent and passion is there in the Women’s cricket and how they have such close games. We saw Twitter and Instagram flooding with amusement and happiness as the game came down to last over drama, something that not many of the viewers expected. It just showed how much the game has grown and the level at which these players play. It was the last over by Radha Yadav that told us that :
“Its not over until they have called it an over!”
Often when we are in situations where there is a lot of pressure to succeed, we experience different emotions. At times we give into the emotions and at times we guide them to a different direction. But, in order to so do, we need to be aware of what we are feeling and how we can work through that. It doesn’t happen in a moment. Emotional awareness is a process. With time and experiences we learn about different human emotions. We learn about different coping techniques that can help us overcome the stressors ( an event/ thing / situation that is highly demanding and we find it difficult to cope with it). Every challenging situation makes us feel stressed to certain level. For e.g. : The level of stress before giving an exam will differ from the level of stress before an interview which will differ from the level of stress before performing in front of an audience. But, we all have certain ways/ techniques to work through this stress and perform to our best abilities.
When it comes to stress and emotions, regulation of emotions and managing the stress is very important. It is important to have healthy coping strategies in situations that can lead to feeling stressed. Having healthy strategies like, deep breathing, self affirmations, giving yourself a pep-talk, and so on helps in building resilience and performing under pressure/ stressful situations. These techniques can work in situations that demand immediate action as it helps you focus on the situation at hand with certain amount of clarity.
You have to find what works best for you in order to cope up and respond to the situation at hand and review it too in order to not have an unhealthy coping technique. Some of the unhealthy coping strategies include: overeating or eating less than your usual diet, drinking alcohol or consuming drugs, overspending and avoiding things/situations.
If we look back at the game and the last over to be specific, the pressure was on both the teams but having that composure under pressure and just focusing on what you can do to reduce the stress and get the results in your favor is a quality of an individual and it builds with time.