They say that cricket is a mental game. Ninety percent mental, five percent ability and five percent luck. Interestingly, many theories have been centred on this thought but one common denominator remains: the mental aspect of the game can’t be ignored.

A lot of the coaches around the world zone in on four main points – which are technical, physical, tactical and mental – to help assess an individual player’s performance and carve out the fastest way.

With the game growing and evolving over the years, we have been able to measure the technical aspects with the help of cricket loving people around the world who hunger to understand the gentlemen’s game in depth. Ways have been devised differently – like, for example, the wagon wheel as an indicator; video analysis for supplying slow motion so that nothing is missed and overlooked; bio-metrics for understanding how the body moves and performs in different situations and conditions.

The physical aspect has fitness trainers bringing the beep test and yo-yo test as the top two. Highest press ups in a minute and highest sit ups in a minute, T shuttles, pull ups, sit and reach, speed gun are some of the additions to what some trainers do in today’s modern gentlemen’s game.

The tactical aspect is like the mental facet as it needs a series of different innings, home and abroad, to determine how the player thinks and reacts to an action while in the middle. Tactical and mental almost work hand in hand and, in my view, needs a significant number of matches to measure.

So how can this most talked mental aspect be measured?

I was tired from travelling from Nagpur to Kolkata to Patna in a week, with meeting and several interviews, a lot of signatures and photos to be involved in. I was now at Dubai airport, no more bodyguards, no more hundreds of Indian fans in every corner. 

It was then when at the corner of my eye, as I was walking in the lounge, that I saw England celebrating a wicket. Young Sam Curran had taken another one; it was now two for the young man. 

“He looks competitive like his father,” I thought.

Several years back, I saw him growing up with his two brothers, always with a bat and ball and with their father, who was now coaching various teams in Zimbabwe.

As all these thoughts raced in my mind, Virat was making his way to the crease. I made myself comfortable to witness what young Sam was going to do on the first delivery to the star batsman.

Then suddenly, I remembered the last 5 test match series between the two countries in the same conditions in 2014. My thoughts moved from young Sam Curran to Virat Kohli.

“It has got to be difficult walking in to bat with a past record like that,” I thought. I watched part of the innings and had to leave it midway to board a flight. He ended up on 149 in the first innings of the first test match against England in England.

An English team with Jimmy Anderson leading the pack with lots of wickets under his belt, most of which come with the new ball. This is a man who is perhaps the best pacer in the world in English conditions.

Then there was Sam Curran, who was swinging the ball vehemently. But Virat Kohli was batting in a league where only he exists.

Now that’s one sign of a measure of mental toughness. This is a player who, four years ago, scored a total of 134 runs at an average of 13.40 in 5 tests. As a batsman, it’s easy to tune your mind to success when you have runs against an opponent before.