Indian cricket needs a full time sports psychologist

[Gollum]

Think Mike Horn, think Sandy Gordon. Even our legends like SRT, Zak, Dravid, Yuvraj vouched for the contribution of these guys. Can't BCCI afford a full time sports psychologist? Our women choked today, U19, senior men's team have all taken choking to a whole new level, worse than South Africa. A loser like Sridhar and drunken fool like Shastri are employed full time by our board but no role for a Mike Horn? 

[Tibarn]

We had one during the 2011 WC, I remember a cricinfo article on it. It's a good idea. Even if the players don't use him/her, the option being available would be good enough. 

[Gollum]

14 minutes ago, Tibarn said:

We had one during the 2011 WC, I remember a cricinfo article on it. It's a good idea. Even if the players don't use him/her, the option being available would be good enough. 

It is Mike Horn. Sachin, Zak, Bhajji and UV have on record gone on to praise his mentoring after that tough loss against RSA in the group match. SRT even went to the extent of saying that we wouldn't have won the WC without the exercises organized by Horn which aimed at team building and delivering under pressure. Horn went on help German Football team on their way to the 2014 FIFA WC title run as well, he is a also a great motivational coach, probably the best in the world. Sandy Gordon played a similar role in the 2003-04 period.

 

A shame that BCCI with so much $$$ can't hire such a guy. 

[kosingh]

Among men, South Africa are obviously the kings of choking, but are we really number 2? Perhaps Pakistan but with them you never know whether it is a genuine choke or something more sinister. 

[Texan]

We have been suffering from this "Haath ko aaya, mooh na laga" syndrome for awhile now. Sadly, even the ladies caught it.

 

[Gollum]

BUMP

 

Need an entire team of mental conditioning experts to help our men, women, juniors...I 'll even say umpires because for a large cricket nation like us we haven't produced a single world class one since Srinivas Venkatraghavan, mental toughness for umpires is paramount. The way things are going even our coaches can do with some help in this department . Why did we stop the trend of hiring such experts/coaches? I think Paddy Upton (sports psychology major) was the last one appointed by us, from 2008 to 2011. He doubled as mental conditioning and leadership coach, helped out even in NCA. 

 

After 2011 win we somehow stopped caring about these things, big mistake because at the highest level teams/players must always strive for the extra 1% which is the difference between 'good' and 'champion' quality. Nothing to be ashamed of (since this topic may be taboo in large sections in India)....top tennis players, combat athletes, rugby teams etc take this aspect of preparation very seriously. And for good reason because the stress is unimaginable at that level, players need someone to listen to their problems, to give them advice and not just about sporting matters, guide them etc.

 

With all the $$$$ why can't BCCI do something good for a change? They are ready to keep Sridhar for 6 years but not a Mike Horn at least before a major series/tournament? Shame. 

Edited February 9, 2020 by Gollum

[Gollum]

Bangladesh didn't beat India, we committed harakiri. Peak mental midgetry.

 

21/7 in the last 10 overs while batting first. A bigger collapse than the one our ladies suffered in the WC F, at least there they were batting second against the host team.

 

The comical run outs, shot selection, opening spell by bowlers, catches dropped, run outs missed 

 

[vvvslaxman]

This is under-19 level.  I have to say our under-19 side is not  a skillful side. There is an yawning chasm between Jaiswal and others.  

[First class]

With India now the best cricket playing nation, their players will always be under great pressure due the the huge expectations of over a billion people. They are expected to win all the time. They definitely need some professional help to cope with pressure. 

[First class]

8 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

This is under-19 level.  I have to say our under-19 side is not  a skillful side. There is an yawning chasm between Jaiswal and others.  

In Bishnoi, Tyagi, Jaswal and Akash, you have future international players and couple of others too, possible . 

[Cricwala]

Its a crying shame that we are so behind Aus and Eng in matters of coaching, preparation, player welfare etc. In fact, we should be the ones innovating in cricket, setting the benchmark for the rest of the world, seeing the amount of money & interest the game generates here.

 

We need to train & prepare a pool of coaches, physios, nutritionists, umpires etc, and reward outcomes. All BCCI has done with increased revenue is pay players better, including at domestic level - which is a good thing, but its just the basic first step. Rest everything is almost as adhoc as it was 20 yrs ago.  NCA was a good idea, but it has now become a dubious place where likes of head physio Ashish Kaushik are running their own little scams in name of player rehab. A good program like TRDW started in 2002 under Vengsarkar by BCCI chief Dalmiya, has also died out.

 

BCCI is so busy fighting its own political, legal and turf battles that they just don't prioritise stuff like this. I don't know much coaches of domestic teams or FC umpires get paid, but I guess their pays should be hiked too to attract better talent. Quite a few of our ex-players seem to fade away, or move towards commentary rather than coach or umpire - poor pay cld be the reason. 

 

Kumble showed signs of being the first world-class coach from India, but Kohli had him booted out.  He was the kind of person who keeps innovating, pushing the players out of their comfort zones. Even Wright and Kirsten tried different things, they got mental conditioning coaches to address the team, really sweated it out with players in pre-series camps. Now, we hardly ever hear of player camps.

 

Shastri and his chamchas are all time servers, with no one to hold them accountable - they know that even on auto-pilot the team will win enough matches and bilaterals to keep masses happy, so there is no pressure on them to push the team from good to great territory.

[vvvslaxman]

4 minutes ago, First class said:

In Bishnoi, Tyagi, Jaswal and Akash, you have future international players and couple of others too, possible . 

Battingwise we are very poor. Not a good side. They played 31 under-19 matches. They have come up with this XI.

[Rightarmfast]

Lets address the elephant in the room. What India needs is a proper unbiased, uncorrupted selection and proper planning. We are failing due to choosing wrong players which suits certain selectors or captains, and then we do not plan. If this segment is corrected, only then we need to see if we still need psychologist.

[Vk1]

One thing where we always keep failing is in strategies and assessment. we tend to pick the wrong 11 for most of the games and seem to understand the nature of the pitch and the conditions the least. May be we need speciaists for that and current TM isnt capable.

[Vijy]

On 7/23/2017 at 1:25 PM, Gollum said:

It is Mike Horn. Sachin, Zak, Bhajji and UV have on record gone on to praise his mentoring after that tough loss against RSA in the group match. SRT even went to the extent of saying that we wouldn't have won the WC without the exercises organized by Horn which aimed at team building and delivering under pressure. Horn went on help German Football team on their way to the 2014 FIFA WC title run as well, he is a also a great motivational coach, probably the best in the world. Sandy Gordon played a similar role in the 2003-04 period.

 

A shame that BCCI with so much $$$ can't hire such a guy. 

don't blame BCCI - all of their money is being used to buy bewda's beer and to cover up rat's tantrums in the past.

[Zero_Unit]

Virat needs a full time psychologist. His incapability to score big when it matter, not some bilateral crap which everyone will forget in a week. To me it seems more mental blockage than anything.

[ShoonyaSifar]

Does the Captain and Coach even consider such options and see them as beneficial. For their support staff, they have picked a bunch of yesmen. Doubt if they will let a professional psychologist (someone like Paddy Upton) come into this setup which reeks of nepotism and incompetence

[Gollum]

What will it take to make BCCI see sense? How many more times will we **** our pants in KO stage? 

[Autonomous]

They need a zareen khan in their dressing room