On Preparation

“ After facing Raghu’s 150 Kmph balls in the nets, the best fast bowlers in the world feel like medium pacers. “ - Virat Kohli

Virat was asked about India’s improvement in facing pace bowling. He mentioned Raghu, India’s throw-down specialist, who helps the batsmen prepare to face fast bowling through his side-arm action.

India improved vastly in facing pace bowling because they prepared at a higher level than they would face in the match. They chose to take the tougher option and were prepared to fail early in preparation rather than fail in the match. It helped them, and now they are arguably the best batting side when facing fast bowling.

It is not easy to see one fail. It requires one to push aside one’s ego, face one's demons, and confront one's own shortcomings. This is why most of us take the easy route in preparation: Solve easy problems while preparing for a test and play the game in easy mode. We do this because succeeding in the easy mode gives us dopamine hits. It makes us feel good about ourselves. It gives us a false sense of comfort that everything is okay.

But it only delays the inevitable. The failure would come, but then it would come at the big stage when it matters the most. And in life, unlike movies, there are rarely take twos. It would be permanent. The only place where you can take two is in preparation.

Hence, do the difficult, keep your ego aside, embrace the pain, and conquer your Everest!