The high-profile Indian Premier League presented a huge opportunity for the budding talent at the recently started VVS Laxman Cricket Academy at the Sreenidhi International School as — many leading names of the game visited the ground and shared their thoughts and experiences.
Tom Moody, head coach of Sunrisers Hyderabad, for whom Laxman is the mentor, Sri Lankan spin legend Muthiah Muralitharan, one of the world’s finest fast bowlers Dale Steyn were some of them who made their presence felt. So also the likes of Ishant Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
And to the delight of the young trainees, these big names in cricket not only gave a few valuable tips but also faced queries from the kids.
The cricket stars insisted that there is no substitute for hard work and unless one sets big goals to achieve and complements them with the desired hard work, commitment and seriousness, no one can succeed in any field.
Tom Moody relived the 1987 World Cup and how the Australians clicked as a unit to emerge champions. “Creating a strong team environment leads to lifelong friends, which became an example for my career,” he commented. He also pointed out how the Aussies won the 1999 World Cup as all the great individuals in that outfit gelled together as a team. He stressed the importance of training hard on bouncy wickets like the WACA which was rated to be one of the fastest in world cricket. Moody also emphasised the need of good communication skills apart from being decent cricketers. “One of the important qualities to be a successful cricketer or for that matter in any aspect of life is to be receptive to ideas and be able to put your views across to convey your ideas or be receptive to others which should only help your cause,” he explained. “You should learn to respect the other’s qualities, be open minded and take quick decisions. This will also help you to emerge a very good leader too,” he remarked.
The affable Muralitharan felt that equal importance be given to both academics and sports. “You have to strike the perfect balance and not just focus only on sport,” he added. “First, learn how to spin and then learn how to control the ball. You need to plan a strategy according to the batsman's abilities, believe in yourself, work hard at the nets and listen to the coach,” the great spinner told the attentive audience.
For his part, Steyn stressed on fitness being an important and integral part of any cricketer’s career. “Keeping a strong mind keeps one away from taking wrong decisions. Individual workout schedules have been good for him but varies from players to players,” he felt.
At the end of it all, it was apparent that the young talent seemed to be an inspired lot and V.V.S Laxman should be more than keen to make a critical assessment after a few weeks as to how well these young cricketers have picked the finer aspects of the game.
