01 July,2024 07:54 AM IST | Barbados | Ashwin Ferro
Virat Kohli during his 76 on Saturday. Pic/Getty Images
The Indian cricket team's victorious T20 World Cup campaign in USA and the West Indies could serve as an inspiration to the nation's top athletes, who are gearing up for the upcoming Paris Olympics (July 26 to August 11), feels seasoned hockey goalkeeper PR Sreejesh. "Yesterday [Saturday] was an off day for us so we could watch the entire T20 World Cup final, and that match can teach any sportsperson so many great lessons," Sreejesh, 36, told mid-day from the national camp in Bangalore.
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PR Sreejesh
Standing tall when it matters
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"Firstly, if you look at Virat Kohli, everyone was talking about how his performance throughout the tournament was so bad. But that guy stood tall when the team really needed him the most in the final. That's what a great player does. Our coach [Craig Fulton] sent me this famous quote, âIt's not how you start that's important, but how well you finish' which I think is so apt here. This is a great lesson for all the Indian athletes who are going to participate at the Paris Olympics. If every athlete can realise that it's not about how they start but how they end, I think our performances will be very good in Paris," said Sreejesh, who will be featuring in his fourth Olympics.
Great team work
Great team work is another huge takeaway from the win in the Caribbean. "We always see that in cricket, the batsmen tend to get all the accolades and credit for their big shots and high scores, but in this final, at time when almost every Indian fan would've felt that the game has slipped away when the South Africans needed just 26 runs off 24 balls with six wickets it hand, India's bowlers fought back brilliantly. Then there was a wonderful catch taken in the outfield [by Suryakumar Yadav], so this win was a purely collective effort and that's what our Olympic athletes should be looking to do in team sports," concluded Sreejesh.
