Role of psychological factors for successful cricket

Abstract

Cricket is a unique sport on many levels. On the one hand it is a team game played by 11 individuals who combine to form an effective fielding unit, and to win with suitable strategy is the ultimate aim. Cricket also has many different formats and can be played as one day with 50 over’s, just a few hours in the case of T20 and for many days in case of test cricket. Instead of learning the skills of the game, the biggest challenge is being able to deal with the many psychological factors that can affect thinking, organizing and ultimately perform well during a game. Due to the many uncontrollable factors in cricket such as playing conditions, umpiring decisions and pressure from the coach and the crowd are some of the facts that statistically make the cricketers fail more times than they succeed. Self confidence levels are proposed to impact sport performance by determining levels of motivation. Self-modeling helps the cricketer to understand his own performance (either in practice or competition).Further, ego-strengthening is another important concept which plays an important role in enhancing the feelings of self- confidence. Concentration is the key to success which is filling the mind with what you need to do to ensure a successful action. Emotional control is a mix of high skill levels and being clear tackled mentally, to play the game under pressure. Understanding psychological factors will help to achieve optimal mental state for success.