Redefining The Word 'Talent'

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What if we defined talent differently in sports? What if instead of using the standard definition of talent, which is traditionally based on the physical abilities of an athlete we start giving weightage to the ‘mental’ strength of the individual? How would this new definition change the way we look at sportspersons? Let’s try it on for size.

If we are adding an individual’s ‘mental’ abilities to the definition of talent we probably need to define what we mean by ‘mental’ abilities?

Is it the ability to perform under moments of pressure? Yes. That definitely is a factor. Hitting sixes and boundaries in the last over of a match, raising your game when it is 4-4 in the fifth set of a tennis match and of course lining up to kick a penalty. This mental ability to perform when it counts the most, is a skill and talent that only the best in the business have had over the years.

But this only makes up a small part of an athletes mental ability. The second part is how does one deal with a situation when you are not prepared for it. A great example of this is the famous Rumble in the Jungle boxing match between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali. As showcased so beautifully in the Academy Award documentary, ‘When We Were Kings,’ when Ali entered the ring and the fight began he soon realized that Foreman was stronger, faster and had the benefit of youth on his side. Yet, Ali, who probably had the greatest ‘mental’ talent, decided that he would find a way to beat Foreman. Thus came the rope-a-dope tactic leading to one of Ali’s greatest wins against an opponent who was faster, stronger and younger, but who didn’t have the mental talent of Ali.

A number of players and coaches have said in the past that so often you prepare for an opponent with in-depth strategy and plans and quite often within 5 minutes of the contest beginning your entire game plan and strategy goes out of the window and adjustments have to be made. This ‘mental’ ability and skill in a contest is critical at the highest level of sport.

The final mental ability is the ability to change your game as you prepare and execute these changes when it counts. There probably is no finer example of this than Sachin Tendulkar’s 241 vs. Australia in Sydney in 2004. Struggling with form, Sachin displayed a mental ability that defied every aspect of his natural game, in what was probably one of his greatest innings. He chose not to drive the ball, altered his game plan and executed it with perfection.

If we add these aspects to the definition of ‘talent’ then can we ask ourselves the difficult and somewhat uneasy question- which Indian Batsmen, with the exception of Virat Kohli, is even remotely talented?

Based on the recently concluded test? None.

While the match may have been exciting in terms of swings of ups and downs from both sides the brutal lesson from the contest was that the Indian batsmen continue to show that they have zero mental talent as defined above. The two areas where they showed a complete lack were points 2 and 3.

Shikhar Dhawan reminds me of an Einstein quote- “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” May be towards the end of his career he may learn that flashing his bat outside the off stump overseas is not the same as doing it in India.

KL Rahul- obviously still feels it is summer in India and has not realized it is summer in England. The IPL is over.

Ajinkya Rahane- if I have to hear any of the panelists say one more time about how he is too good a player to stay out of form for so long, I may lose my mind

Sunil Gavaskar is up in arms about the fact that the players took five days off at a stretch and I agree completely. This was about mental preparation and by the looks of it there wasn’t any. When the teams ‘mental’ talent is sub-par, so much time off is blasphemous.

Virat Kohli has insisted that the team be at a certain level of fitness and that’s great. A lot of the players even have the physical ‘talent’ in terms of having a lot of shots. But if the ‘mental’ talent of the batsmen remains where it was in the first test match, then the team doesn’t deserve the world number one ranking by any standard.

Let's just hope the Indian team's 'mental' talent gets developed and shines in the remaining tests. 

photo credits. 

https://www.si.com/specials/100-greatest/?q=14-the-rumble-in-the-jungle

http://www.espncricinfo.com/sri-lanka-v-india-2015/content/story/910365.html