Players Still Fret Over What Kind of Fans Would Turn up After a First-Ball Duck: Ravi Shastri
In this column for PTI, Team India director Ravi Shastri wrote players do get worried if they fail to perform in a particular match.
You don't pick favourites in your family. Nor would I among these fresh yet tough kids. They were all under a banner. So was I. We wanted to turn the corner after England tour. We wanted to be sure the wheels hadn't come off.
To have millions rooting for you after those long months in Sydney was a vindication. Personally, I was in the dressing room after two decades. Yes, the game has changed. But it still is a sport which men of flesh and blood play.
Players still worry on their show. They still get the jet lag; they still are exhausted; everyday nets still don't look an invitation to party. You fret how the world has viewed you today; how media has opined; what kind of fans would turn up at the hotel lobby after a first-ball duck; what's the official engagement in every other city. (Ravi Shastri's Full Column)
Between airport to airport, hotel to hotel, ground to ground, nets to nets is the sameness which could engulf most but the toughest. One still needs to be smart to fill up his free time. I see some serious ambition in these young men. Money, they have had aplenty. It's the respect which moves them.