Former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson lauded Indian cricket stalwart Virat Kohli for being the most mentally strong player. Kohli recently finished as the leading run-getter in IPL 2024 with 741 runs for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru and will be seen next in action for India in the upcoming 2024 T20 World Cup, which gets underway from June 1.
“The people that I’ve worked with one-on-one, I won’t take names in particular, but just a bit of a knowing that even the high-quality international cricketers that I’ve worked with, like at the Delhi Capitals, for example, just the things that I’ve seen are – one, just their ability to be able to step into each game confidently and knowing what the best version of them looks like, so they’re stepping into that every single time.
“Then the way they debrief a performance, especially when it’s not a great performance – how they debrief that and just turn their focus then to what they need to do in the lead up or during the next game to be able to bring a better version or give themselves a better chance of having a good performance. So, there’s two people that stand out for me, as I have played with both of these guys.
“One is Virat Kohli, who is just so mentally tough. He fully understands how to bring the best version of himself, which is getting in the battle, having his back up against a war where it’s you or me, and he’s fully engaged in every moment of every game. It’s that intensity that he brings to, just about every game, is superhuman.
“There’s only really a couple of other people that I’ve played with or played against who had that consistent intensity every moment of every game So that’s something about Virat, that we’ve seen in this IPL, just how engaged he is. That’s why he’s been able to sustain such high performances for such a long period of time,” said Watson in an exclusive interview with IANS, on the sidelines of his new book ‘The Winner’s Mindset’.
Watson, the leading run-getter in the 2012 T20 World Cup, thinks mental preparation will play a huge part in various players adapting from IPL conditions in India to the ones they would face in the West Indies and USA for the showpiece event.
“It comes down to just understanding that even though it’s a Men’s T20 World Cup, it’s not bigger than any other game; as in it’s still the same skill set. As a batter, you’re still facing a bowler. You’ve got to assess the conditions and got to trust what you feel with the conditions. You’ve got to prepare as well as you can so that you’re bringing the best version of you from a skill set perspective.
“So, in the end, these are world-class cricketers who are going from an IPL, for example, and they’re gonna have to make little adjustments to the conditions and pitches that they’re gonna be facing. Also, whether it’s temperature, and a new team environment as well. That’s where by understanding these mental skills deeply and applying those into just who you are, you build a really strong, like a bulletproof cocoon around you.
“So then whichever direction and team you go into, or the conditions that you are facing, you do know how to tap into the very best version of you and tap into those skills that you’ve got so deeply ingrained. The masters of their mental skills are the ones who are able to do that quicker and more consistently to be able to step into the best versions of themselves,” he stated.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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