Though sports is all about practice, betterment and improving day by day. But the bad times and moments do haunt all players. Some get out of it, some don’t and some get out of learning huge lessons, which helps them for their betterment later on.
Coming off with even updated playing skills after a low phase is something not every player can pull off. It requires a lot of approval when it comes to rejection from self. But some players did come back and eventually, somehow or the other they left a mark in the fields and some even in our hearts.
These are 5 cricketers who came back with a bang from their dark phase:
1. Sourav Ganguly
This man actually defined the meaning of an immaculate come back to loads of players and audiences. He fell and went into so many rough phases during his career. But he never gave up. Players were against him, commentators spoke trash about him in front of him, even the audience lost complete faith in him.
He was in a very dark phase. The most heartbreaking moment was when dada in the Pepsi ad said, “Mera naam Sourav Ganguly. Mujhey yaad hai naa?” Greg Chappell personally wanted to ensure Sourav Ganguly’s downfall.
Sourav was terribly suffering, he couldn’t even score runs, neither did he take any noticeable wickets. He was completely removed from the national team since the entire team was suffering back then.
Instead of losing faith, Sourav started practising off-field, he gave cricketers his all and rose from the ashes. Made a new banging entry to the fields, but this time in baby steps.
He was selected for the national team and he completely changed the game by his updated way of playing.
Not only that, he later became the captain of India and got tagged as one of the best captains a team had all around the world. And later he started supporting the players who went through their personal dark phases related to their careers. Some of the players literally rose to the place they are just because Sourav didn’t lose faith in them.
Sometimes, like in the case of Virender Sehwag, Sourav game up his opening position to him just so that he can prove himself to his own self and to the spectators. He is truly the one who taught people how should someone overcome a dark phase. And no dark or low phase is permanent, if you work towards the betterment of your life the energy will reciprocate and work towards you.
He smashed his best score in Test cricket after this comeback, blasting a blistering 239 against Pakistan and also became the highest run-getter in Test cricket in the year 2007.
2. Sachin Tendulkar
One can, not agree with the fact that how brilliant of a cricketer is Sachin. But just like phoenix roses from its ashes, Sachin did that too. He was the one to create so many records. Some of them are still very difficult to break by players.
He did not miss any test matches, neither did he miss any tours that would be beneficial and would give him the exposure that is very important.
With games, there come injuries. On one such game, Sachin injured his arm. Though it seemed to be something that would’ve been handled easily with medicines it did not. The pain aggravated so bad that Sachin was literally unable to lift his bat. Which did not give him the chance to even hit his signature shots that mostly lead to victory for the whole team. That shows how severe the pain was.
Being a prominent sportsman this was one of the phases which makes one hit the rock bottom. Sachin went into rehab just so that he can come back even stronger and make a banging reentry in the field.
And that was exactly what he did, he came back even stronger and started hitting his signature shots in an even better way, and the stadium automatically was filled with the old chants of, “Sachin, Sachin, Sachin!”
3. Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi
Pataudi was called, “Tiger” obviously because of his gaming skills and terrific performance. He was one of the fearless players the Indian team had. At the age of only 20, he went through a deadly accident. Which not only did affect his body part but also snatched away his vision from his right eye. His jaws were affected very badly, but sadly it was impossible for him to get back his vision.
Being a cricketer, it is very important to keep their vision focused since one-inch movement can lead a team to lose an entire match after a lot of trial and error. Thus this was when he absolutely hit the rock bottom. But that did not stop him.
Swings were far too much, he couldn’t heaven see a piece of glass with his right. That’s when he started practising with only one eye. He was talented and diligent enough to continue practising and that made him one of the finest cricketers ever. Not only that he became the captain of the Indian team as well.
Though in 2011 at the age of 70 he died due to a respiratory disorder. But that won’t let us forget him, the high standards and the mark he left in the world of cricketing.
Under his captaincy that India managed to win their first Test match overseas and it came at the premium expense of England in 1967.
4. Mohinder Amarnath
Mohinder was known as the comeback king in the Indian cricket field. His comeback was one of the most iconic comebacks people witnessed. He was also tagged as the “bravest Indian batsman ever” by the famous commentator Sunil Gavaskar. He was one of the prominent reasons behind India’s performance in the world cup back in 1983.
He had a good start to his career. He also appeared in many international cricketer matches. But the only drawback he was facing is that his vulnerability towards short balls. He made him very insecure and deteriorated his performance which made him get knocked off the international cricket team.
That is what when he decided to show these true skills. He started practicing in the best way possible. The slightest of knocks, short balls, long balls, swings, off-spins and every other stunt needed to get him some good techniques in order to bounce back into the team.
After all of that practice turns out it was all worth it and he made his way into the national team again in 1982. That changed his entire perspective when it came to the game and now only did he improve but he also scored 6 centuries from only 11 matches against Pakistan and the west indies.
5. Zaheer Khan
Zaheer was one of the promising fast-medium, left-arm players in team India. He was also the second most successful cricketer in the team at that time after Kapil Dev. He was looked upon by most of the cricketers at that time cause not only he was a good player but his decision-making skills were also on point. Each and every decision was made rationally and that always favoured the team in a good way.
Fast-medium bowling is not an easy job and Indian players used to lack that skill. Zaheer stood out of them all. He had a kick start to his career but just due to his sloppy way of playing he was dropped out of the team in 2004-05. That was the darkest phase for Zaheer’s cricketer career.
He practiced enough to make sure that he comes back even stronger which would be very beneficial to the whole team. Making him a smooth way to get in the national team yet again. He fought back stronger than ever and played the best domestic season for Worcestershire.
He is also the reason India scored pretty well during the world cup back in 2011.
Going through the dark phase might be your path to the best moments, don’t give up.