Former Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh recalled an advice from batting great Sachin Tendulkar that helped the Men In Blue win the World Cup in 2011. Indian cricket team is always under pressure even when they play a minnow side. In tournaments like World Cups, the pressure increases multifold. Same happened in 2011. India were hosting the tournament. The campaign was going well untill South Africa beat India in a last-over thriller.
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After loss to South Africa, the media started to slam India. It seemed as if India's campaign has been derailed as the team's weaknesses were out in the open. There was a lot of noise, distraction for the players. It was then that Sachin asked all players to come for a meeting. In that meeting, he asked each and every player, including captain MS Dhoni, to ignore the noise outside and focus just on the World Cup.
Sachin did not just pass on a plain advice but also asked the players to start using headphones while travelling so that to ignore the noise made by fans at the airports.
#OnThisDay in 2011, Yuvraj Singh's unbeaten half-century knocked Australia out of the @cricketworldcup, ending their streak of three successive World Cup wins pic.twitter.com/H3ZPwsGQOT
— ICC (@ICC) March 24, 2018
“Now, distraction is a bit more because that time there was no social media. There was distraction with media and people. We were trying to focus on the game, and in the world cup, we had lost to South Africa - a game we should have won. The media started to go berserk. Sachin sat down with the team and said, 'we need to stop watching television, stop reading the papers. Use our headphones when we are going through crowds in airports. Just focus on the world cup'. The team agreed, we just followed that and it really worked,” Yuvraj was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
The same pressure is on the current lot. Rohit Sharma and company have a big task in front of them. India are favourites to win the trophy. What favours them is the fact that they play the tournament in their backyard. However, at the same time, playing at home comes with its fair share of pressure as well. Team India will have to ensure that cope with this pressure by cutting out the outside noise and focus hard on the trophy.
India start the tournament on October 8 with the game vs Australia at Chennai. Their biggest test will be Pakistan, whom the Men in Blue play on October 14 at Ahmedabad.
