Beautiful

Top 10 Life Lessons From IPL: Beauty of Cricket

by Nitesh Mathur | Nov 14, 2020 | Life Lessons

What is life without its beautiful life lessons?

As nineteenth-century philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once said, “Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.”

In this age of fast-paced technology and instant gratification, we sometimes focus too much on day-to-day activities and forget to appreciate life at the fullest. Here at Broken Cricket Dreams, we seek inspiration in our lives from cricketing events, relive childhood memories, and share our broken dreams.

Earlier, we did a piece on Cricket’s Reflections of Passion, where we discussed how each and every cricket is motivational in their own right, whether they have played 100 tests or just one. Similarly, today we discuss the life lessons from from IPL 2020.

IPL is a tournament where dreams come true. T. Natarajan, Mohammad Siraj, Yashasvi Jaiswal, the Afghan duo of Rashid and Nabi, and architect Varun Chakravarthy are just few of the countless examples. Their journeys are already so inspirational, even before taking the IPL in consideration.

This year has been different though due to the pandemic. IPL 2020 has provided the fans an ounce of relief that was needed. Here are 10 life lessons that IPL 2020 has provided us.

The Life Lessons

1. Soil Fertile Elsewhere

Moment: IPL moving to the UAE

With the growing pandemic situation in India, it was never feasible to hold a full-fledged IPL there. The BCCI took the bold decision and moved it to UAE, putting all the safety precautions in place. Hats off to all the organizers, staff, commentators, and players for making this happen.

Seeds need the right environment to grow, and sometimes the soil is fertile elsewhere. In this case, soil was literally fertile elsewhere. It is completely okay to acknowledge that and nurture the seed where it is best poised for growth. So how can we apply this in our lives?

Life Lesson 1: Spread goodness and good ideas. Recognize that you will not be the center of attention all the time. Sometimes just stepping aside, encouraging others, and lending them a hand is just as important.

2. The Audacity of Hope

Moment: Rahul Tewatia’s heroics

After struggling at 17 (23) in a mammoth chase of 226, Tewatia roared back with 5 sixes in an over against Sheldon Cottrell ending with 53 (31). The initial struggle even provoked the commentators to propose the ‘retire out’ option.

He battled and stayed in the game. Only someone with immense self-confidence and inner mental strength could overcome such pressure. This reminded me of Barack Obama’s iconic 2004 Democratic National Convention keynote address:

“Hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope.”

This is exactly what Rahul Tewatia has taught us this season.

Life Lesson 2: When life gives you lemons, weather the storm with the best of your abilities and come back with a bang. Hang in there. Before thinking of quitting, reflect on why we came into the profession in the first place.

3. Rise Like a Phoenix

Moment 1: KXIP need 1 off 3, Mayank Agarwal fails to close the chase after a brilliant 89. DC win the Super Over.

Moment 2: The Double Super Over – Agarwal comes in clutch with a brilliant save and hits the winning runs with 8* (2).

Although he could not take KXIP across the line in the first attempt, he learned from his mistakes and made amends the second time around.

One of the stories of IPL 2020 was Mayank Agarwal. His toil in domestic cricket is well recorded. After years of piling the runs without national selection, he finally made it to international cricket.

Life Lesson 3: It is not the end till the end. Disappointments will occur. The important thing is to learn from this setback, not drag on the disappointments, and come back stronger.

4. Make Most of Your Opportunities

Moment: Anukul Roy and J. Suchith, aka specialist substitute fielders of IPL 2020.

They both changed games themselves by taking diving catches at crucial junctures of the game. In Hindi, Anukul means favorable. Throughout the tournament, he did just that—made situations favorable for himself.

Life Lesson 4: It is easy to get disheartened when you are on the sidelines or not getting that promotion, but you never know. Always be prepared. When your opportunity arrives, cash in. This may be the moment you have prepared all your life.

5. Synergy Above All

Moment: Team spirit of SRH and MI pushes them to the the playoffs (and championship)

Synergy is defined as “the interaction of elements that when combined produce a total effect that is greater than the sum of individual elements, contributions, etc” [1]. Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians were prime examples of this phenomenon in this tournament.

SRH were dealt with injury blows all throughout the tournament—Mitchell Marsh, Vijay Shankar, Wriddhiman Saha, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Kane Williamson on and off. Just take a look at SRH’s man of the match winners:

Rashid Khan, Priyam Garg, Jonny Bairstow, Manish Pandey, Wriddhiman Saha, Sandeep Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, and Kane Williamson.

Notice something? David Warner, Jason Holder, Abdul Samad do not even feature in this list.

Similarly, MI had contributions from each team member. Even the little contributions from Jayant Yadav in the final and Suryakumar Yadav’s sacrificial run-out for the betterment of the team turned out to be momentous.

Life Lesson 5: Teamwork, harmony, unity is more important than just individual contributions. This can be applied to sports, work, or education. Invest in collaborative efforts.

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6. Small Hole Can Sink a Ship

Moments: 5 Super Overs including 3 in one day

With plenty of Super Overs and Double Super Overs, this IPL was not short of excitement. Catches win matches, direct hits changes games. Still holds true. Given that the points table were extremely close at the end, these super overs may have changed some fates.

Life Lesson 6: Focus, Focus, Focus. Every moment matters, every detail matters. It is easy to be complacent and declare victory prematurely, but a small mistake can come back to haunt you.

7. Carry Old Baggage At Your Own Risk

Moment: Delhi Capitals and the Chennai Super Kings

Delhi Capitals were on a roll for the first half of the tournament, but they lost momentum drastically. Shikhar Dhawan and Marcus Stoinis blew hot and cold, ranging from match winning contributions to absolutely nothing. Holding on to older performances may have hindered DC to rise to the next level.

Another team that held on too long? CSK. Their old stars carried the baggage and credentials for maybe one season too long.

Life Lesson 7: Keep on Improving. Holding on to past performances, and achievements may hinder your present. Stay in the present, and “keep it simple, stupid.”

8. When One Era Closes, Another Opens

Moment: Dale Steyn and CSK on the way out, Padikkal, Garg, Gaikwad, and co. come to the party

Sports can provide legendary status to some during their careers. Dale Steyn and MS Dhoni are legends and will always remain so. IPL 2020 confirmed that their careers were on the last lap, and honestly it was a sad sight.

On the other hand, the Indian youngsters showed promise. They were so good, we could even make an uncapped XI out of them.

Life Lesson 8: Transitions are a part and parcel of life. Sometimes it is hard to let go, but it is going to be okay. We can relieve the old memories, but moving on at the right time is crucial.

9. Fix Roof When Sun Is Shining

Moment: Warning to Indian cricket for the future

The talent emerging in Indian cricket is tremendous. With nurturing from U-19, India A, and IPL squads and mentorship with people like Rahul Dravid, these cricketers are already a ready, mature product.

Although we have to take care of these youngsters, both physically and mentally, the BCCI needs to make sure these talents do not go wasted.

Mayank Agarwal barely made it, talents like Manish Pandey and Rishabh Pant have been mishandled, and Suryakumar Yadav is in the danger of not being selected in his prime.

Indian cricket needs to take the right decisions when the time is good. Otherwise, semi-final losses will become an excruciating pattern…

Life Lesson 9: Make hay when the sun shines. Everyone goes through high and lows. Just make sure to capitalize when the going is good, because it will not remain so forever.

10. Sportsmanship and Passion for the Game

Moment: Harsha Bhogle’s quote of the IPL, “That is what sport should be about. There is humanity off the field; competition on it and the two are never at odds with each other”

Sport is tough and competitive in nature, but outside of the stadium, all the players are human. The T20 leagues have definitely helped in building relationships across boundaries, and it would be great if cricket is actually played like the ‘gentleman’s game.’

Finally, without spectators, the will of the players was on display in IPL 2020. They played for the love of the game. The players did their best and competed with complete energy even without any external applause.

Life Lesson 10: Internal Motivation vs External Motivators – One should always give their best without expecting in return. Just keep on improving, give it your all, and leave the rest.

If this happens with the sportsmanship, then we have a win-win situation here. I would like to leave you with:

What is life without cricket? What is cricket without the life lessons?

Let us know which life lessons were your favorite in the COMMENTS below.