021 - "This too shall pass"

I have been meaning to come back here to express my thoughts for a while. But life happened.

Over the last 3-4 months a lot has happened in cricket, and in life.

My very first moment to chalk out this article came when Suryakumar Yadav had a run of 3 back to back golden ducks.

I felt lately, it was the first time in my cricketing journey, I'd had things somewhat falling into place.

To contextualise over the last couple of months I had scored on the lines of:

0(5)

10 (17)

7(8)

16(21)

2(7)

After this patch, I had a run of

26(24)*

24(26)

39(44)

59(50)

24(20)*

All 5 games above were in a winning cause, so it felt great to leave a game with a positive contribution for 5 games in a row. I wanted to ride the wave. I signed up for more games, got greedy, and really wanted to maximise my "purple patch".

I am aware that my definition of a purple patch is VERY different to most. Not because I don't set high standards for myself but because I like celebrating small wins, and when you fail as much as I have, these results feel great, especially because they were for a winning cause. And hopefully, I reach a point where I look at these scores as failures.

Coming to failure.

Not long ago (about 6ish hours ago, I had a 4-ball duck, at the back of 5 semi-decent innings). In an almost ideal situation (chasing 6.5 rpo) for me to go and bat, I went with the mindset to survive, defended one too many and allowed the bowler to take control.

Inswinger.Inswinger.Inswinger.

Defend. Defend.Defend.

Outswinger.

"Edged and taken."

It was a great reminder that nothing is permanent, with every high, there will be a low, maybe not today, but someday, and with every low there will be a high at some point. It's just about not getting too excited in the high period and not getting too down in the low period. Well, at least I'm telling that to myself.

Or maybe, I'm writing this to try and make myself feel better. I really don't know.

Anyway.

Suryakumar Yadav (SKY) went on to have a decent IPL, and after a shocking start to his IPL season (for his standards), he figured out a way to pick himself back up and help Mumbai Indians get through to almost the final hurdle. Last evening, he did his best but the task was a mammoth one, thanks to Shubman Gill, the leader of the next generation.

The thing that scares me about Shubman Gill's purple patch is, now he's set the standard, can he live by the standard he has set for himself? Virat Kohli and most of the greats in their era did so let's wait and see how he emerges in those situations.

When the IPL started, my initial instincts were that Prithvi Shaw is going to have a breakthrough year and after 5-6 disappointing outings, he was dropped by the team management.

Without a doubt, I get philosophical when I see Prithvi Shaw because he is someone who I have followed since his U19 days, along with Gill. Both were leaders of the pack, and Prithvi was always on track to be the next-generation superstar but now, no one seems to speak of Shaw in the same breath as Gill.

From being the Under 19 World Cup Winning Captain, leading Gill, to potentially being left far behind in his shadows. Life truly does figure out a way to humble you.

And you know what's beautiful about sport? Things could change as quickly as one season. I hope it doesn't because I'm a proper Shubman Gill fan but the nature of sport is so fickle.

This brings me to my next point, luck.

Luck plays a major role in sports and life, whether we want to admit it or not. Romanticising hard work, skills, talent, etc. are great but luck is the one thing you need. Being at the right place at the right time, dodging a few bullets, the section of the classroom you get allocated which can determine your entire school/college life, so many elements that are beyond our control, but yet affect the outcome of our lives.

With Shaw as well, his first tour to Australia was called off, because of an ankle injury in a warm-up game, then he was banned for a year for taking some medicines without checking, or something like that. After all of that when he came back, Mithcell Starc happened.

I remember when Shaw made his test debut, he had a chanceless 100 (as far as I remember). When Gill made his debut, he was dropped on 5 by Marnus and went on to have a great stand and cement his place in the test team for that series.

The first ball of my 50 last week, I knicked it and despite having a keeper and a slip, it went between them for 4. Imagine that went to the keeper, that would be 0(1). Yesterday, the first ball I knicked went straight to the keeper, maybe if it were a play and a miss, my outing would have been different.

I understand now I'm just rambling so I want to conclude by saying, yes fortune favours the brave, and failure/success is a part of life. But all we can do from our end is try right? If I don't go and bat again tomorrow morning, how will I succeed or fail? We try so we can take chances and then failure and success just happen.

I'm going to close this with a beautiful video by one of my favourite actors.

He's able to summarise this rant of mine beautifully within 41 seconds or so.

Until next time adios, tomorrow morning I have another game. Whatever happens, whether I score a 50 and feel on top of the world or get out first ball, the feeling of raising your bat or taking the longest walk known to humanity (the walk from the pitch to the pavilion), whatever happens, however I end up feeling, this too shall pass.

Nothing is permanent, not success, not failure, not life, not us.