Success vs. Joy

- XXXVI -

Playing to Expectations

After a match, there would always be someone who would ask me how I missed a simple, straightforward shot. My answer to this question has been, “please appreciate the fact that I’m human. I pursue perfection but I realize that I will never be perfect. There is always something more to learn, there is always some incident or thought that creeps in and dislodges my concentration.” I would then counter, “Why don’t you ask me about the 600 shots I got right before I goofed up on one?”

You must realize one thing. However good you get, you will never be perfect. Also, you can never control the expectations of others. That is why it’s so crucial to disregard these external expectations and, just as important, to keep

yourself completely unfettered by your own expectations as well.

Continuously striving to raise benchmarks does not guarantee that you will not falter. That is why I strongly believe I should not play in order to live up to someone else’s expectations of me. I would go crazy if I did.

Spectators and fans have exceedingly high expectations of their favorite players. Consider the way in which the performance of the Indian cricket team arouses such intense passion. Cricket has become a multi-billion-rupee entertainment industry. Yet there are a few players who are mature enough to be able to maintain their composure in tense situations. Of the current cricketers I have met, I place Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid in this category.

Sachin may not perform well in each and every match he plays but that is not because he is trying to live up to the expectations of a billion spectators, and weighed down by their collective expectation. It is because he is human and knows that only too well. His record will not be beaten for a long time and his feats with the bat will always be remembered, but he has not and will not succumb to a billion people imploring him to bear their burden.

I consider Sachin to be a great sportsperson, not just because of his skills, but also for his ability to withstand the pressure of a billion expectations. Look at Sachin – you see calmness and serenity on his face. Where does this serenity come from? Does it come from the knowledge that many millions have great expectations of him? If Sachin started worrying about what his fans expect every time he walks out to the crease, he would not display the level of equanimity he does. Nor would he have performed as brilliantly and as consistently as he has for more than 15 years now.

Take Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar. All the records they have created did not affect them. If they had succumbed to what others expected of them, I very much doubt they would have been able to play the kind of cricket they did for more than five years or so. To have the ability to disregard the expectations of others – shrug them off, if you like – one has to first remove all expectations from one’s own mind.

Why then, does a great player like Sachin fail at times? He’s human. It’s as simple as that. Every sportsperson goes through such phases. And a good sportsperson works hard to transcend these patches of poor form, and to jettison them.

Chapter XXXV :: Chapter XXXVII