India just trounced Australia 4-0 in the recently concluded Tests… in the bargain, they handed the Aussies their most comprehensive series defeat in nearly half a century!
The architects of the Indian team’s victory were its young guns – Ravichandran Ashwin, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja, Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Virat Kohli – each of whom came up with spectacular performances. Among these names, the one player who took me most by surprise with his showing was Murali Vijay.
Now there’s never been a doubt about Murali Vijay’s stroke-making capabilities and his sound technique. But he has always been a “dasher”, supposedly more suitable for the shorter versions of the game – ODIs and T20s – rather than test matches. So seeing him bat for long periods of time in the five-day games and also emerging as the highest run-getter in the series was both praiseworthy as well as inspirational. So what did Murali Vijay possibly do that brought about this sea change in his batting style?
Well, batsmen who have a wide range of strokes invariably get out trying to play one shot too many. Therefore, the key to their success in the longer version of the game primarily lies in their ability to cut out the risky shots from their arsenal. So more than having a “to-do list”, these players need to chalk out a “not-to-do list” to succeed – like, not to try and score a boundary off every ball, not to loft the ball in the air early in the innings, not to chase balls wide outside off-stump, etc. Obviously, Murali Vijay got his “not-to-do list” right. And the results show!
In fact, this is true for all of us.
What “NOT-TO-DO” is as important as what “TO-DO”.
Personally, I maintain a “not-to-do list” as passionately as a “to-do list”. This includes stuff like trying NOT TO jump in and solve issues even when I know that I could do it faster than a team member. By doing so (or rather, not doing so), I give an opportunity to the team member to learn and become independent faster.
Do you have a NOT-TO-DO list? If not, what would you like to put on it???
