3 Key Lessons that we can learn from Ben Stokes Innings & PV Sindhu's Win

We witnessed some historic moments in the world of sports yesterday. Being a Sunday it allowed many sport lovers to tune in to watch their favorite sports. Most of India was watching "World Badminton Championship" Final waiting eagerly to see an India take a Gold in "WBC". It took PV Sindhu just 38 minutes to script a new page in history as she became the first Indian to win a gold in World Badminton Championship.

On the other hand entire UK and Australia were watching the 3rd Ashes Test match between England and Australia and I am sure no one, not even Joe Root might have thought firmly that England would win when the 9th Wicket fell. After that what happened we all know and history book was scribbled again. Benjamin (Ben) Stokes showed the world today that you need more than skill to win a test match.

I have noticed 3 key learning's that both Stokes and Sindhu showed and every professional, entrepreneur and leader should possess these skills to excel in our respective fields. These are not very new to many and may be absolutely cliched to some but these skills are more important to become successful in the long run.

1. Grit & Determination: The journey of PV Sindhu if you closely follow to the final of WBC in not just of last few days. Its on her goal list since last 7-8 years or more from the time she lost out on a silver and had to settle for a Bronze for the first time in 2013 and she is just 22 years old. Classic example of keep doing the work and having the grit and determination to beat the shit out of the opponents. Same was shown today by Ben Stokes and Jack Leach. When Jack came in to bat as a number 11 most of the English fans were planning to head back home once the match was over and contemplating their status of ODI World champions. But Ben Stokes had other plans, he probably played the innings of his life and mind you he would definitely rate this above the ODI final against NZ. As a professional we at times forget how important is to have courage at difficult times and loose faith in ourselves.

2. Resilience: The ability to bounce back is something which all of us have been reminded at some point of our career and those pep talks motivated at times to help us recover and at times it didn't. But I truly believe this skills is something that needs to be mastered with experience and a whole lot of science that goes behind to build Resilience within us. England cricket team showed us exactly the same today. They were 67 All out in the first innings, 15/2 at the start of second Innings, and 286/9 at the fag end of the Innings and to bounce back thrice in a same match was a sheer Resilient effort.

3. Flamboyance: Many would debate the fact that Flamboyance is an adjective and not a skill, but I would certainly like to put it under a soft skill category for any professional to build in our portfolio's. Both PV Sindhu and Stoke showed how flamboyance can demoralize the opposition and get an upper hand for us in pressure situations. Sindhu played with authority, smashing hard every time to make a mark on opponents mind. So did Ben Stokes smashing 8 Sixes and 11 Fours in a test match was exuberant. 

It was truly a day to remember for the sports lover's and for many of us it taught some key lessons of life. Amidst all this, one man was silently doing his job without being acknowledged in this post. "Jasprit Bumrah" took a 5/7 to take India to win the first Test of the World Cricket Test Championship.

Note: Pic Credit TOI