Mental aspect is more important in any sport not just cricket: Muttiah

Muttiah Muralitharan

To culminate a grand season of Mind Masters by MFORE, the 6th and final episode on Star Sports Tamil 1 on June 14th at 7 PM will feature Sri Lanka spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan as the special guest along with his former international team-mate Russell Arnold and former India fast bowler Lakshmipathy Balaji. The trio will be hosted by former cricketer S. Badrinath.

The spotlight for the upcoming episode will be on the prolific Muralitharan, who holds the record for the most wickets in Test cricket 800. The legend will shed light on how mental conditioning is important for cricketers while also highlighting life during the lockdown, the situation in Sri Lanka during the COVID-19 pandemic, how does he keep himself fit and his thoughts on playing with VIVO IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings.

Talking about how keeping the mental aspect is important for any cricketer, Muralitharan said, "In any game, 90 per cent of the work is to be tactically and mentally fit. Only then can you play. When you are young, you won't immediately think about that being mentally fit because of your interest and love for the game. Automatically, without being told, you'll think about what to do and do it. But when you get into the professional level, it's totally a mental game because of the pressure. A lot of cricketers who have good technique and haven't dealt with this pressure, have fallen off. So, the mental aspect is more important in any sport, not just cricket."

Also adding on the importance of mind in professional sport, Muralitharan speaks on Star Sports 1 Tamil show Mind Masters by MFORE "The mind is the most important in professional sport. While one can practice & train hard and hone one's technical skills, it's critcal to keep working to become strong in the mind. For there will be failures, one may fail to play a shot he always backs himself to, one may not be able to bowl a ball he usually delivers, but if you keep persevering at it and keep practising don't give up and importantly keep believing that you can do it - definitely you will succeed. "

Muralitharan, who has had his fair share of challenges to deal with as far as his bowling action was concerned, also explains on the show how the entire ordeal of dealing with being called no-ball for his actions made him a stronger individual together with the support of his team and country.

Talking with host and former cricketer S Badrinath, Muralitharan also shared how being prepared and positive help in overcoming failures: "I used to bowl leg-spin also when I was young, so I thought in case I went for tests on my action and then it doesn't work, I'd become a leg spinner. As for everything, even when you play cricket you should have plan A & plan B. You can't just stick to one plan. Same with any sport. Anyday you can face failure in your life or sport, failure is guaranteed, you will need to think about it and take it positively and move on saying tomorrow is another day"

With every episode, Mind Masters by MFORE captures the various nuances of mind skills training through known sports personalities and their journey.

Catch up on all the latest sports news and updates here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates.

Mid-Day is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel @middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news