Psychology of cricket: How mental fortitude could be the main difference between winning and losing

Have you ever wondered why do you play better during practice sessions than during matches? Why do you perform well when there's no pressure? Why do you go blank during crucial situations?

Why do you fail to give your best when it matters the most? What changes? Do you suddenly lose your skill or techniques that you have practiced for years?

Well, most likely, it has nothing to do with your technique or physical fitness but your mind.

While it may sound baffling, your mind does play games and, on occasions, could be the only factor in your winning or losing a match.

Let's dive in for some more details.

Performance drivers

Most of the athletes seek specialist coaching to build the necessary technical skills to achieve peak performance, such as batting, bowling, fielding coaches, or physical trainers.

Seldom does any athlete have a mental trainer. This could be partly due to sheer ignorance or lack of awareness of the need to have a sport psychologist.

Still, the most common reason for not having mental coaching is due to the many myths and perceptions associated, such as being perceived to have a 'weak mind' or mental issues.

Well, seeing a sports psychologist doesn't mean that you have a weak mind. It only means that you want to train your mind as you prepare your body for peak performance.

Peak performance

West Indies v India - One Day International Series

The journey of performance towards sustainable "peak performance" isn't rocket science but rather a combination of technical skills, physical fitness and, most importantly, developing a healthy mind.

Training and controlling your mind are not random acts but involve a series of mental techniques and exercises to be followed consistently.

Peak performance can be achieved by bringing your body and mind together in the present moment. It may sound effortless, but to implement it is challenging.

It is challenging due to the nature of the mind which can go beyond the time and space frame. Unlike the body, which is always in the present, your mind has no such restrictions.

So during a match, your mind can jump into the future: "What if I get out on this ball?" "What if I get hit for a six?" "What if I drop a catch?"

Or it can even go back to the past. "Oh no, this bowler has taken my wicket three times in the last five matches." "We have never won on this ground."

Because of this, your body and mind cannot act in unison, which negatively affects your performance.

'Mind' it!

You are what your mind is. If your mind is disturbed, you are disturbed. If your mind is agitated, you are agitated. If your mind is focused, you are focused.

Skill is in your body, but the execution is in your mind. Hence for the flawless execution of the skill, training of the mind is essential. And for mind-training, understanding the mind is necessary.

The mind can be divided into two parts, conscious and subconscious.

Your conscious mind helps you gain the information and experiences of the outer world through your sense organs. So when you see a bowler at the start of his run-up, your conscious mind gathers all the information such as - type of bowler, balling grip, expected line and length etc.

Once the conscious mind collects the information, it sends it to the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind is like an iCloud that has a lot of data already stored.

The subconscious mind processes the new data along with the already stored data and accordingly gives instructions to the body to act, which results in the final physical action.

Key to your mind

Training Shoot With England Women's Cricket Captain Heather Knight

While processing the information in your subconscious mind, data passes through two filters: the focus and the stored memories.

Your 'focus' is like the keywords that you use for a Google search. You get the search result according to your keywords.

When you focus on the bowler, you get all the memories or data related to that particular bowler, which may not be completely useful in shot selection.

If you focus on the ball and not on the bowler, the data processing would tell you the correct shot to play as per the delivery.

Like the right keywords are essential for optimum search results, proper 'focus' is necessary for correct shot execution.

Similarly, if you focus more on memories of failures, mistakes, setbacks and guilt, you will suffer from low self-confidence. Then the execution during the match will be dull, tentative or incorrect.

To achieve your peak performance, it is essential to train your mind to focus on the right keywords and search for good memories.

When you are focusing on the correct things, your information-processing will be proper and your mind will work together with your body to achieve peak performance.

In the next series of articles, we will see more on training your mind for the right focus.