Lack Of Focus And Not Anouska Let Kohli Down !

The Indian cricket team  made a inglorious exit from the Cricket World Cup .It came under fire from every front –including  getting a few bullets from me .Many were giving vent to their anger for emotional reasons and some like me were angry because I thought  they  were put up on a high pedestal  by the media  ,for not much reason – and  they had to fall .I wrote in a blog before the World Cup started that we would be lucky to make it to the semi  finals –I am glad I  was proved wrong .The last thing I had expected  when I made the  forecast  was that Bangladesh would be among the 8 teams that  would  qualify  and I always thought that England would find its place under the sun !!Bangladesh are the minnows of world cricket –no matter what their Prime Minister thinks of them  .Lucky we ran into them in the quarters .

There were a lot of reasons for Indias defeat  in the semi finals –but Anouska Sharma is certainly not one of them.

Do players get distracted ? Yes they do unless they are exceptional human beings  and exceptionally gifted .Those who are geniuses  can  cope with distractions –those who are short of it may not .From all accounts drinking ,dancing and having parties all night will certainly affect ones performance .And if one is in the midst of a tempestuous love affair ,it will almost certainly distract you .If you are not distracted –then you are certainly not in love .!! Obviously Virat Kohli was distracted –but then why blame Anouska ? Its not she who was batting and  on whose name so much was at a stake.Blame Virat for it –he just does not seem to handle his distractions well enough these days .Remember him losing his cool on a journalist  which led to him being warned by the BCCI ? Do you think the incidents like that   would not have distracted him ?  Besides ,he has to cope up with his celebrity status  ,and add to it the celebrity status of his girlfriend  .Not being able to handle fame and fortune is the greatest challenge for anyone (remember what it did to Vinod Kambli and Rajesh Khanna  ).So lets get the red herring out of the way –players get distracted - unless one is a genius like Sacchin Tendulkar who left a world cup match to attend his fathers funeral  and came back and scored a century and dedicated it to his Dad .Or  you have to be like the greatest cricketer of all time –Gary Sobers.Here is a incident from his life .

Sobers was known as someone who was likely to be in the mood for a party, even during a major match. He rarely went to bed at a normal time because he was  one of those people who could   have four or five hours' sleep and still wake up fresh he admitted.It was well known I liked a drink  and went betting  after play.

While most of the West Indies team returned to the Clarendon Court Hotel after a days play against England in a Test Match , Sobers headed out with retired West Indian spinner  Reg Scarlett, and the pair headed to a nightclub, and as they made ready to leave in the early hours, Sobers said he "realised I had long gone past the need to sleep". He persuaded Scarlett to come back to the hotel, where the two of them settled down in the bar to reminisce.

"We drank until about 9 o'clock in the morning , then I got a cold shower, walked up to Lord's, got my pads on and walked out as the umpires called play," he said. "I took guard, but all I could see as Bob Willis ran up was arms and legs. The first five balls I missed, and I could hear Kanhai (he was the Captain of the team) and everyone else up in the pavilion laughing. Anyhow, the sixth ball hit the bat."

As his head slowly cleared, he found he had other problems, as "churning pains" started in his stomach. As he neared his hundred they were bad enough for him to consider retiring, but he feared it would break his concentration.

He completed his century and soldiered on until the afternoon drinks interval, when he turned to Charlie Elliott, the umpire, and said: "I'm not feeling well, can I go off?" Elliott was bemused. "Go? What for? I haven't seen you get any injury." An increasingly desperate Sobers replied: "Charlie, I've held this in for 50 minutes, I can't hold it any longer. Put down whatever you like. I gone…" And with that he headed back to the dressing room, unbeaten on 132.

Inside the pavilion, Kanhai asked what was up and Sobers told him that his stomach was "giving him hell", adding: "The only thing that'll help me now is a port and brandy mixed." The drink was duly produced and he downed it in one. "Bring him another brandy and port," Kanhai said. "But make it a big one this time." Sobers was ready to return. He duly completed his 150 !!

Clearly the Indian Cricket Team has no Gary Sobers amongst them and Virat Kohli  and gang should be supervised like schoolboys when they tour .Otherwise they lack the talent and discipline to be given the freedom  and iconic status that they enjoy .In the end –it was this factor that led them down .The VIP culture percolates every pore of our society –and you get further away from yourself if you start believing in it .To win –you need to be yourself and not be someone who has been created  by someone else .The gap must narrow and merge for you to be a winner .