Finally, the Indian Premier League ended with the victory of Kolkata Knight Riders in the breathtaking final which they could lose despite dominating over their opponents (Chennai Super Kings) for the major part of the second innings. However Shakib Al Hasan and Manoj Tewary could hold their nerves and avoid the scare given to them by CSK.
In the Extra Innings programme related to IPL, when asked who would win the final, former Indian Cricketer - Ajay Jadeja denied to reply but said that if ten people were asked this question, nine would answer in favour of Chennai Super Kings. He was right. Why ? Because Chennai Super Kings have built a reputation of not only performing consistently year-by-year but coming great when the occasion is great. Mahendra Singh Dhoni has proved the Shakespearean quote time and again - cometh the hour, cometh the man. He knows that losing certain matches in-between does not matter if the really important knock-out matches as well as the trophy-awarding final is won. Winning every time does not matter, winning in the significant dual matters.
In the rules related to the central government employees, it is mentioned in the context of promotions that for getting entitled for promotion, the employee has to demonstrate a consistently high level of performance throughout the year instead of occasional flare-ups. But the vice-versa only is true in practice because who shows his quality in certain significant issues only is able to steal the show and the reap the tangible benefits like bonus and promotion and not the one who consistently performs throughout the year but the things done by him are considered as routine by those empowered to distribute the benefits.
When the war is still on, it's no use excessively celebrating the winning of a particular battle or excessively mourning the losing of an odd one. Finally, losing battles doesn't matter if the war is won in the end and winning battles doesn't matter if the war is lost in the end. The owner of Kolkata Knight Riders - Shah Rukh Khan says in his famous dialogue (from the movie - Baazigar) - Haar Kar Jeetne Waale Ko Baazigar Kehte Hain. M.S. Dhoni has transformed himself into a Baazigar who loses some matches in-between and allows the people to criticize him and when his detractors have written him off, he bounces back in style when the stakes are high and the occasion is really significant. He knows that the mental strength and holding your nerves in the crucial moments is the key to success. You may lose not because of the difficult situation but because of your panicking. He doesn't panic. And KKR followed his Mantra yesternight after Gautam Gambhir was out quite cheaply in the first over. They did not panic, kept patience and a cool head to finally overpower their seasoned rivals.
Barring the exception of Adam Gilchrist, the other captains and their teams did not demonstrate this quality. I remember, in the IPL of 2010, Deccan Chargers (who were the defending champions then), the team led by Adam Gilchrist was on the brink of bowing out of IPL when they had lost six out of nine played matches and one more loss would shut the door on them. However under the captaincy of Gilly, Deccan Chargers won all of their remaining group matches (five in a row) and stormed into the semi-finals in style. Hence, getting demoralized in adversity is as bad as allowing certain successes to enter your head is. That's why the likes of Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh won certain battles but lost the war.
Chennai Super Kings entered the play-off stage this year by sheer luck. But why should the lady-luck favour them (or their skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni) ? The answer is simple - fortune favours the brave. And the CSK players are bravehearts, taking everything in their stride and elevating their level of performance to the dizzy heights when the occasion is big and winning matters the most. The thing that Mahendra Singh Dhoni indirectly teaches not only to the Cricket teams but to all in general, is that the first laugh is less important, the last laugh is more (and in fact, the most) important. Hence be mentally strong and ignore whatever the world says about you to enjoy the last laugh when the curtains are down.
