Even as the rest of Tamil Nadu players were busy at the nets, their captain R Sai Kishore was meditating in the dressing room. For close to half an hour, all that the 27-year-old did was enter the ‘zen mode’; a trait that feels necessary not just for him, but to those around him to perform consistently.
It is understandable why Sai Kishore idealises ‘zen mode’. Last week after they defeated Punjab in their last league match, they locked their Ranji Trophy knockout berth for the first time in six years. In the overflowing excitement, Sai Kishore has been reminding the boys that they are yet to taste success.
“I understand where it comes from because, here (in TN) you have lot of well-wishers for this team. But, not one of us is satisfied with what we have done so far. Even if we go to the final and lose, it will still be a failure and that is why none of us are satisfied. Qualifying for knockouts is bound to happen. With this team, not qualifying is a crime. We have the hunger to show that we are not just a white-ball team. I just feel things are beginning to fall in place. There is some divine power that is running this side now,” Sai Kishore tells The Indian Express.
In many ways, Saurashtra, their opponents on Friday in Coimbatore, are the team that Tamil Nadu wants to be – making the Ranji finals regularly as against being content with qualifying for knockouts.
“When we 7-8 seniors sit and talk in the dressing room, we brag about winning the titles (white-ball). When we came in, that’s what DK (Dinesh Karthik) used to do. And now we are doing it, so that the newcomers will also want to win something and brag about it. None of us have won a red-ball title, but when we do it, we can brag about it in a bigger way. More than winning a match, you need to talk only about winning the title. That should be made normal,” Sai Kishore says.
Among the current TN side, only three players – Indrajith, Vijay and M Mohammmed – have experience of playing five-day matches or knockout matches in red-ball cricket. Over to Sai Kishore & Co to embrace the challenge.
When Sai Kishore took over the side, TN was far from being normal. In the middle of last Ranji season, they had removed Baba Indrajith as captain. Sai Kishore had no experience of leading a team in age-group levels. And ahead of this season, despite consistent performances, an axe hung over a few senior players like Indrajith, Vijay Shankar, N Jagadeesan and Sandeep Warrier. As they had just one point for the first two rounds, it felt déjà vu once again for TN. But, Sai Kishore, the captain, unofficially converted them into his vice-captains who even set the field placements at times.
“It is my leadership style. Players blossom when they are at their expressive best. You can’t play a game thinking, this will be your last if you fail. When you do that you will fail. You have to put them in a good place and from there on it is about the individual. Everyone is talking about Bazball and it is not (Brendon) McCullum who is doing it in the middle. It is Ben Stokes and his players. But McCullum is providing the space to play so. That is what you need,” he says.
Made to open again in the third round, Jagadeesan would hit a double century and a triple-ton in successive matches. Indrajith would go back to be the batsman for the crisis. Vijay Shankar would deliver two vital knocks, including a century under pressure. Warrier would bowl his heart out in scorching heat and provide crucial breakthroughs. In essence, Sai Kishore has turned into an inspirational captain, without him realising it. And most of it is down to what he inculcated from Stephen Fleming, during his time at Chennai Super Kings, where he warmed the bench without playing a game.
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“Flem is big on this. He used to take captaincy classes. He is similar to MS philosophy. They are both big on process. They believe the process will take care of the results. That is their innate behaviour. From the outside, you may not understand it and could even sound cliche. But when you are around, you know what they mean and you would imbibe those things in your career. It was a massive help. Not that I knew I would be captain of a team one day. But when I got the opportunity, I wanted to do it in a similar way,” Sai Kishore adds.
For the next five days, defending champions Saurashtra, which has Cheteshwar Pujara, Sheldon Jackson, Harvik Desai, Jaydev Unadkat, Dharamendrasinh Jadeja would severely test Tamil Nadu. Among the current TN side, only three players – Indrajith, Vijay and M Mohammmed – have experience of playing five-day matches or knockout matches in red-ball cricket. Over to Sai Kishore & Co to embrace the challenge.
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