What is Commitment?

(Age - 12 years)

Sachin fell in love with cricket at an early age and thereafter he has shown a great commitment for the game. Sahitya Sahawas society, his then home, was the practice place for him. Day and night, he used to spend time in practicing cricket along with his society mates. ‘Wow! Great! Awe!’ like words we get to hear when we see Sachin middling the ball, don't we? He does it so accurately that we feel it’s a natural talent but very few know, what kind of practice methods he has used to get such perfect strokes.

It is an obvious perception that great players are blessed with enormous talent. They often are but that is not the only thing which marks them unique. It is a balanced combination of talent, commitment and a right attitude that adds up to their success.  

Sachin, in his childhood, used to often practice along with society’s watchman son, Ramesh Pardhe, who actually was Sachin’s dearest friend. The little naughty Sacchu never forgot to share his meal with him whenever he got to know Ramesh didn’t have food. They used to often play cricket on the terrace. Now, let me tell you the reason behind the perfection in his strokes. Sachin used to get a bucket full of water on the terrace without telling anybody and used to ask Ramesh to dip the rubber ball in water and then bowl at him. This very action increases the pace of the ball when it travels towards the batsman and also due to wetness of the ball, a ball-mark gets embarked on the bat after the impact. That’s how he used to get an idea where exactly the ball is hitting the bat, is he middling the ball accurately or not, he used to judge accordingly. 

What an idea it was sirji.

This practice used to go for hours and hours. Indeed, he was a boy with sharp mind and born with perfectionism. Mastermind, isn’t he?

Commitment for the game began from that minor age and with time; it has only increased even after reaching the peaks of glory.   

     

(Age – 38 years)

     

I would like to put down one instance here, during the recently concluded World Cup, well before the match between India vs West Indies in Chennai, a practice session of Indian players was going on as usual. The players were sweating hard in the scorching heat. After hard core practice, the players decided to pack up as the Chennai heat was getting unbearable. Everyone left except one man, the Master, he was not yet finish.

After the normal training session, he asked two local players to join him. No one knew what he was upto. He told two of the guys to stand in short cover and short point region for fielding respectively. He himself took to the crease and told the bowling coach to give throwdowns. Sachin’s plan was to try hitting the ball through the gap between those two fielders on consistent basis with his eyes closed.

    

It was a kind of blind training of Sachin.

     

The two localites were amazed to see the Master finding gap on most of the occasions by closing his eyes at the moment of impact. He wanted to make sure that his shots don’t miss out on the gaps in the field during the match and hence practiced it with closed eyes to get the feel of impact of ball on bat.

“How accurate was his timing and shots!” exclaimed one of the local players.

     

More than his accuracy, look at the commitment guys. Twenty-two years of dedication and still he doesn’t want to lose the magical touch which is god-gifted.

Indeed, such kind of passion is necessary to win your dream and eventually he did it, as we all know.

   

This clearly shows the power of commitment combined with talent which should be harnessed all through our career, be it any field. That’s the sign of a great player. I recollect one example where lack of commitment for the game and wrong attitude cost us one extremely talented player, yes, the buddy of Master himself, Vinod Kambli, who was graded with superior talent than Sachin in his school days. Initially, he did put in lot of efforts to make to the International cricket but struggled to show the dedication and attitude required at the higher level. Thereafter, we all know what happened with him.

But Sachin, he was completely focused and committed and still is, Koi shak! He is always ready to learn. Even now after reaching such great heights, the eagerness to learn has not altered. Before every match he still sweats in the nets the same way which he used to do in his initial days. Even if he is not playing any match, he makes sure that he practices at least few hours everyday in nets. He still considers himself as a student of the game and works out whole-heartedly. Remember, you are never too old to learn. Such devotion gives immense motivation to the youngsters in the side and makes them think that if Sachin Sir is doing it with such zeal, then we should do it with double his energy. 

     

Indeed, he is a great motivator to today’s generation.

So What is commitment? This is it.