We had the final of the World Cup One day International cricket held in India last week. While India had an enviable record of winning all their league matches against all the participating countries in a very convincing manner, they lost in the finals to Australia, who were the better team on the final day.

Millions of people across India were shocked and rightly so since cricket is one of the most popular sport in India. I am also an ardent cricket fan and felt highly disappointed on India losing the finals after a great record right through the tournament.

However, what many fans forgot is that the final is also like any other game and you could either win or lose and whichever team plays better on that day wins the game. Australia played better and we lost. We need to learn to gracefully accept this result and still laud our team India for a consistent performance right through the tournament.

Many cricket gurus started analysing the result and gave their expert opinion on what the captain could have done in terms of strategy. In hindsight, everyone can become an expert. We need to remember that the 11 players representing the country in the game give their heart out and are clearly playing to win the game for the country. They are aware that a billion Indians may miss a heart beat if they lose.

We need to remember that our life is also like a game. We may win on some days and lose on others. This whole incident taught me five life lessons, which I thought may help us reflect on how to deal with failures in life :

A. Give your best : We need to strive to give our best for every thing we pursue in life. We may succeed in some things and not in others. However, even if we fail, it should not stop us from trying out something else.

B. Celebrate success : Many fans forgot that the Indian team won ten matches on the trot and most convincingly. Yes, they lost the finals and everyone was pouncing on them with vague theories and funny hypothesis on why we lost. Imagine a child topping the class from standard one to ten and misses the first rank in the next class. Will the parents or teachers disown the child ? We need to learn to celebrate success and learn from failure.

C. A game is a game : We always need to remember that a game is a game. We should not get overjoyed by winning a game nor get exasperated by losing a game. Life is no different. We may win on some days and lose on others. Our ability to be grounded in success and learn from failure will always make us a winner.

D. Focus on the future: We may win or lose a game. However a sportsperson will focus on the next game more than wasting time on the past ones. Similarly in life, we need to learn from our mistakes and our successes and learn to move on into the future.

E. Start all over again: The Indian team members may have got over the disappointment of losing the finals and moved on to prepare for the next World Cup. So would the Australian team. Champions do not rest after a win or a loss. Similarly in life, we need to start all over again. Life is not lost with one failure nor made with one success. Both successes and failures are part of life and we need to learn to deal with them magnanimously and start to live life all over again.

Let us start all over again.

S Ramesh Shankar

24th Nov 2023