Because the ball was swinging around as Bhuvi does do, there was one ball in particular where I was just a little bit hesitant. The technical checklist that I was going through was just around my head position my hands making sure my pre-movement was going straight down the wicket and it was early, so I wasn't rushed my head was dead-still as the ball came out, so I had a clearer sort of focus and picture from my eyes to the ball to pick it up.Īnd then, where was my mind as the ball came out? In between balls, was I tapping into my gut feel, trusting what I felt? In that first over, there were a couple of balls where my technique was a little bit off - I was a little bit rushed, a little bit to the off side of the ball - so I was working through that. It was a culmination over a couple of years of working through how I could pull myself into the right technical and mental state to be at my best, and that innings in 2018, every single ball, even in that first over that I was facing with Bhuvi, every single ball, I was working through my technical and mental checklist. So the underlying motivation leading into that 2018 final was around how disciplined I needed to be, around my technical but especially my mental perspective, and the things that I was thinking about and planning but also the things that I wasn't thinking about. Ryan Pierse / © Cricket Australia/Getty Images Watson says Hughes' death changed his mental environment significantly and brought fear into his game front and centre
Watson places his bat and cap by the fence at Adelaide Oval in a tribute to Phil Hughes during the Test match against India in December 2014. I went for 61 off my four overs, and even though I was very well prepared, there were a couple of things that meant I just wasn't executing my skills, and I got exposed in a big way. Once I'd understood that, I was working on not just my technical skills but my mental skills, every ball that I faced, and in the lead-up to every game.Īnd the caveat is, the 2016 IPL final that I played for Royal Challengers Bangalore was probably one of the worst games that I ever had, especially from a bowling point of view.
SHANE WHATSON SPEAKING IN KANNADA HOW TO
I was fortunate to get introduced to Dr Jacques Dallaire, a mental-skills guru from the US, who finally made me understand, in really simple terms, how my mind works, how you sort of get in your own way from a mindset point of view, and then how to get out of your own way, how to create the right mental environment. That was a time in my career when things shifted significantly, from a fear of batting more than anything, with the tragic event that happened at the end of 2014 with Phillip Hughes.
I'd been specialising in T20 cricket from sort of early 2016, so from a technical point of view it was all under control in a way, but the mental-skills side of my game was an education that I got at the end of 2015. That innings in 2018 was a culmination of all the things I'd learned in the previous couple of years. To go from there to scoring a century and winning the final for Chennai Super Kings - what did that take, mentally? You've faced a maiden from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and he's beaten you a couple of times too. You're chasing not a massive target but a fairly hefty one, and you're on 0 off ten balls.
Let's talk about your innings in the 2018 IPL final. In this interview, which he found time for during a hectic period that also included commentary at the T20 World Cup and the launch of his book Winning the Inner Battle, Watson spoke about how he developed his power-hitting game, the method against spin that brought him consistent success at the IPL, and how he acquired the mental skills that allowed him to make the most of his cricketing gifts. And he has witnessed the game's evolution from multiple perspectives: player, commentator, coach, and president of the Australian Cricketers' Association. He knows what it takes to juggle three formats, as he did for the bulk of his career, and he also knows what it's like to specialise in T20, as he did in his late 30s. He dominated big matches and major tournaments, at both franchise and international levels. In a career that spanned most of the first two decades of the format, he batted in every position, while possessing the intimate knowledge of what went on in a bowler's head. Who do you speak to if you're after a deep dive into the technical and mental challenges of batting in T20? It's simple. Interview by Karthik Krishnaswamy | November 18, 2022
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