Cricket is life - Valuable life lessons from the Gentleman's game

“Don’t count your chickens before they hatch”

South Africa were the favourites to win the 1999 World Cup. In the final match of the Super Six stage, Australia needed a win against South Africa to progress to the semi-finals. South Africa were already safe.

The South Africans batted first. Gibbs scored a wonderful century and they finished at 271. The Australian chase was rocky. They were 48/3 when Steve Waugh came into the crease. Waugh began slowly; and when he was batting at 56, he gave a simple catch to Gibbs who was standing at mid-wicket. Gibbs took the easy catch; and before the ball was fully into his hand, he threw the ball skywards, celebrating. The ball fell out of his grasp and hit the ground. Waugh went on to score 120 runs and Australia qualified for the semi-finals.

The semi-final match between these two teams ended in a draw and Australia progressed because they had earlier defeated South Africa in the group stages. That drop by Gibbs was the pivotal point in all this drama. As Steve Waugh puts it, Gibbs did not drop a catch, he dropped the World Cup.

Never try to count your chickens before they hatch.

“One ultimately random incident can have a huge impact in your life”

Nobody expected MS Dhoni to come in at No.4 during the 2011 World Cup finals, but he did. And that changed the course of that match.

A flying catch by Dinesh Karthik, who was a substitute during the 2007 T20 World Cup against South Africa in a potential knock-out match, turned the tide and helped India win that match and ultimately the World Cup. But in the history books, it would just be a random event.

One moment of magnificence, one moment of sheer magic which would ultimately be a random incident after a few decades could actually have a huge impact in your life.

“Not everything is fair, buck up!”

The year was 1992. South Africa were a nation free from Apartheid. They easily made it to the semi-finals when they faced off against England. England scored 252 runs from the allotted maximum of 45 overs. South Africa needed 22 runs from 2.1 overs. Then came a 12-minute rain delay.

12 minutes of rain that changed the course of an entire match.

In 1992, in case of a rain delay, they used the lowest-scoring overs of the team batting first to set the revised target. The rule was complicated and hard to understand. The revised target was a joke – South Africa needed 22 runs from 1 ball.

The South Africans couldn’t do anything. They faced the final ball and went back to their dressing rooms.

Life, like cricket, is not fair at all times. Try to cope up with it.