Tigers need to develop their mental strength: Ali Khan
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||Desk Report||
BCB's newly-appointed sports psychologist Ali Khan thinks that Bangladesh players need to develop their mental strength in order to avoid choking in difficult situations. However, he admitted that their growth in this regard has been tremendous so far.
The Bangladeshi-born Canadian completed a week-long course with national team cricketers during the start of the ongoing series against Zimbabwe.
“There's been a lot of improvement. They used to break down in difficult situations in the past. They didn't believe that it's possible to make a breakthrough from there. But now, I'm not going to say that even if they are mentally not a hundred percent, they've improved in terms of focus, confidence, and belief,” Ali was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
“The pressure is high when matches get very close and they are still struggling at such stages. It has become very important to develop the mental fitness of those who are relatively new in the team,” he added.
Ali, who worked with the Tigers in 2014, wants to work on the mental aspect of the game with the different group of players in the team and make it a continuous process.
“What I have done with the seniors in the past, if I do the same with the juniors then probably there will be continuation among the players. We will at least not suffer for the mental aspect of the game,” he remarked.
Bangladesh lost five finals in the last six years and the same failure had raised doubts over their mental capacity to sustain the pressure of winning the final. According to Ali, they need to understand that they are choking at the crunch period though he believes it is not the case throughout an entire game.
“Obviously [they're choking]. I won't say that they are choking all the time. The teams they are playing against are also very strong. So, it's not all psychological.
“There can be technical, strategic or other factors involved. For example, I was watching one of the finals, normally I don't get to watch but I was watching this one, Soumya Sarkar was bowling the last ball when five runs were required of it, against India. In that situation, I would say, Soumya was probably choking, but not the entire time because they made it so close,” said Ali.
“If you're choking all the time, you cannot be so close. But when you're coming to the last moment - the crucial moment - we are not being able to keep the focus, the confidence. If we work on this on a regular basis and mental fitness becomes a part of their tools, they still might lose but it won't be for these many times,” he added.
