File Photo: Dane van Niekerk
If there’s one tournament that any cricket player dreams to win is the biggest spectacle of them all, Cricket World Cup which is known to be the grandest carnival in the sport. World Cup is that time of the year when fans are taken through a roller coaster ride of emotions, where tea turns cold, phones are left off the hook and dinners are left uncooked. Every fan wants the best for their country and in hindsight even though they know what is best for the nation but sometimes selectors don’t and hence end up picking players who are fit but not right to represent the nation at the biggest stage.
The Women’s T20 World Cup began a couple of days back, and the hosts South Africans faced Sri Lanka in the opener. To everyone’s surprise, Sri Lanka defeated South Africa by 3 runs in a low-scoring thriller. Just before the tournament, South Africans had dropped their most experienced player and ex-skipper Dane Van Niekerk, someone who is the only South African to score 1500 runs and take 150 wickets in international cricket. Niekerk was battling through injuries last year and was racing against time yet she made herself available for the World Cup but the criteria set by CSA (Cricket
South Africa) was to finish a 2 km run in 9 minutes and 30 seconds in order to be picked for the World Cup. Van Niekerk missed the mark by 18 seconds and was expelled from the team. Little did they know that this would hamper them in the longer run. This column revolves around the same theme. Do cricketers really need to be very highly physically fit to be able to make it to the team even if they possess mental fitness and in-game skills alongside awareness?
Cricket is growing rapidly in the world and due to various T20 leagues held across the world in every country, being fit is considered a norm for every cricketer to be eligible to play in different parts of the world, right from the Southern Hemisphere to the Caribbean. Physical fitness plays an important role in your selection, but mental toughness should be given equal importance too as well as in-game skills & awareness.
We have seen yo-yo and various other fitness tests conducted for selection trials. The board might think it to be a new benchmark for selection but what it does is demotivates the performers who are not athletic enough but have performed exceedingly well in the domestic circuit which ideally should be the criteria to pick players. They also have great game awareness. One just can’t replace experience and there shouldn’t be any excuse for it.
File Photo: Aussie pacer Merv Hughes
We have seen in the past that people who were not physically fit have had great careers. Merv Hughes who was not fit according to the current standards but bowled heavy balls was effective for his country and was not dropped even once because of fitness issues. He could run in and bowl all day with the belly that he had. Inzamam Ul Haq has scored more than 20000 runs in his international career. Not once he was deemed unfit to play because of his belly. He even scored 329 runs in an inning with the physique that he had. To put that into perspective, he had to run for his non-striker as well in that innings. His career was a decorated one, arguably the best batsman Pakistan has ever produced. Virender Sehwag as we all know was neither muscular nor did he move his feet like the other legends in his team, but his hand-eye coordination was enough to instill fear in the opposition. Whenever he batted it sent shivers across the bowler’s spine which was running in to bowl to him.
Sourav Ganguly hardly ran quickly in his career, but he was a gifted cricketer. He could find gaps with ease even if there were 5 fielders on the offside as if he is threading a needle through them. He could find gaps with the precision of a mathematician. Arjuna Ranatunga who hit the winning runs in the 1996 World Cup was someone who was considered lazy, but his game awareness and captaincy mixed with atrocious stroke play according to the situation made him one of the icons in the country and later in the World. He could not run and used to walk when picking singles. Saved his
energy for crunch moments. He once batted with a broken hand in unbearable pain to see Sri Lankans to victory against Pakistan. He was in so much pain that he could not even grip the bat but played so smartly guiding the ball to the third man and fine leg with the help of the bowler’s pace. You won’t find such dedication, determination, and hunger to succeed among current fitness freaks when they are down and almost out.
File Photo: Arjun Ranatunga batting with a broken hand against Pakistan
If you are picking players on the basis of muscularity and physique who have no or little idea of handling pressure in crunch situations, better try picking up models who can serve your purpose. South Africa lost the first game as they didn’t have an experienced lower order and someone who could guide the team through even in a moderate chase. Most of the players picked have never played in a World Cup
before. The one who has played it and should have played the game yesterday was a part of the commentary team. When she was dropped, she had tweeted stating she is 'ABSOLUTELY BROKEN'. She had every right to be gutted as she had served the nation for over a decade and had performed every time. Just to let people know how good she was in the last few years; she led South Africa to the semis of the 2020 T20 World Cup. She played for Surrey Stars in 'The Hundred' and won the competition. The following year she led Oval Invincibles to their first title. She played for Adelaide Strikers and took
them to the final in her first season. She has already won titles with Sixers too. You must be kidding if you think you are going to find a better performer than her in the country basis a 2km run and that too right after coming back from injuries. Seasoned campaigners should always be backed no matter what. They change the atmosphere of the dressing room too by sharing ideas, weak links in the opponents, and how to tackle certain situations as they have ample experience playing all around the globe with various players.
File Photo: Sisanda Magala
There are players playing all around the world currently who are not absolutely fit but are churning out runs or taking wickets regularly in the domestic circuit. Sarfaraz Khan from India is a prime example. Sisanda Magala was picked in South Africa’s ODI squad last month and took 4 wickets in 2 games. If you look at him, you will never recognize him as a fast bowler unless and until you watch him bowl. Rahkeem Cornwall from West Indies is yet another example. He battled weight issues, constant criticism
but let his performances talk and earned himself a West Indies Test berth.
File Photo: Rahkeem Cornwall
If you don’t pick players that deserve to represent the nation you will end up getting what you deserve for not picking them up. There are many fairy-tale stories of kids all over the world who are drafted into the side based on their performances and not any kind of tests. If these yo-yo tests continue, we won’t be finding such stories of unearthed gems all over the world. This must stop somewhere. There are cricketers who are mentally fit, have basic fitness and an amazing game talent and sense to weather the storm, who can see the tide through but are not preferred over players who have a muscular physique, have put in hard yards at the gym and are seen as poster boys of a commercial advertisement. Cricket is a skill-based game and it should be how it used to be. In order to find
someone who can run fast, have a great athletic body, and save a couple of runs in the field you may end up missing out on superstars who could play the actual game in a way better manner according to the situation. This might demotivate the next gen at a very tender age.
Talents found in villages have no idea what a so-called perfect body looks like. They can hit really long sixes, bat-like Sehwag with their hand-eye coordination. Bowl like Jacques Kallis with a shorter run-up but a quick ball to surprise the batsmen. You can’t force someone to be what he is not meant to be. Brownie points can be there for fitness but it should not become a mandate because the beauty of cricket lies in the fact that it is as much of a mental battle as a physical one. The basic essence of that cricketer will be nullified and the X-factor that brought him to the top won’t be visible anymore if you focus on things other than his game. It's high time to prioritize in-game skills such as batting or bowling over fitness.
