MUMBAI, JULY 27: Experts are unanimous in their opinion that the most glaring shortcoming in the Indian team's World Cup campaign was its failure to click as a team - a sad fact that is replete in the annals of the nation's cricketing history. In fact, team efforts in India's successes are as rare as sighting the Halley's Comet.The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which has done precious little to address the problem, could take a clue from the brains-trust of the Elf-Vengsarkar Cricket Academy (EVCA).The famed Mumbai cricketing academy has been drilling the importance of team building, mental toughness, leadership qualities, decision-making and goal-setting into the youngsters with a thought-provoking project. The concept visualised by Makarand Waingankar for budding players - demarcated under age groups of under-14 and 16 - has attracted the attention of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA). The apex body for the game in the city has hired the services of EVCA to introduce their poolof under-19 players to this novel concept.``Talent and technique are in abundance among the trainees, but what was found lacking is the mental strength to combat setbacks suffered off and on the field. We at the EVCA aim for an annual progress rate of 20 per cent a player. But for long that's not happening. That's why the idea of imparting mental training took shape,'' explains Waingankar, who has roped in Sagar Gosalia - a gold medallist in business management - to conduct the sessions. Gosalia, a gold medallist in electronics engineering too, had earlier impressed with his modules on team-spirit during the coaches clinic conducted by Balwinder Singh Sandhu and Waingankar two months ago.``Most boys in the under-19 group appear to have only a one-point agenda in life - cricket. They seem to have no other option career-wise,'' observes Dr Kinjal Suratwala, a coach and sports medicine expert and an integral part of the EVCA team.The EVCA has addressed that problem by instilling in the trainees theimportance of academics. ``Almost every boy in our academy who appeared for the SSC exams last year passed out with 75 per cent marks,'' enlightens Dilip Vengsarkar.``There are too many distractions nowadays which takes away a lot of these boys' attention from the game. Quite unlike my playing days, when we learnt our lessons by watching other greats. Thus I never faced any complex while facing the likes of (Erapalli) Prasanna and (Bhagwat) Chandrasekhar for the first time.''On Thursday last, when the MCA under-19 lads underwent their first session of the mental kind, there was some counsel too, from television commentator Harsha Bhogle, a product of Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad. ``The key to solving a problem lies in knowing the problem. Keep asking questions..'' exhorted Bhogle, who laced his lecture with anecdotes and some quotes.``A team of outstanding players will not necessarily be an outstanding team.'' Australia's win and India's failure during the recent World Cup werepointers to this effect, he said. ``The biggest enemy as you progress is your ego,'' he said, and highlighted it by quoting basketball legend Kareem Abdul Jabbar: ``Winning is all about leaving behind your ego in the locker room.''MCA joint secretary Ratnakar Shetty stressed the importance of academics. ``Cricket is not the end of everything. You should be thinking of other career options too.'' He asked the lads to ``express their thoughts'' during the training session as, only then would the purpose be served.The monthly training sessions conclude in October. ``By then the boys would be prepared for the new season,'' says Waingankar. It would be more interesting to know how much the youngsters will have gained, mentally.
