'You can always fail, so just give it a go'
Monday 2 May 2016 20:00, UK
Considering Carlos Brathwaite walloped four successive sixes off Ben Stokes in the final over to win the World Twenty20 for West Indies, you wouldn't think he was an anxious batsman.
Yet the 27-year-old Barbadian all-rounder - who is currently part of Delhi Daredevils' squad in the star-filled Indian Premier League - insists that was the case a few years ago.
Brathwaite, though, says the remedy has been simple - graft away in training and accept that failure is inevitable.
"I realised that I could always hold my nerve with the ball but with the bat I was always a bit jittery," Brathwaite told Sky Sports' Mark Butcher.
"I have worked really hard in the nets and in the lead-up to games but I also know that, despite that, there could always be one ball with my name on it or one that I middle straight to the fielder.
At the beginning of that over [in the World T20 final] it was a matter of knowing what I needed to do, that if I failed it wouldn't be for a lack of preparation or trying, and that I should just give it a go.
"I have now accepted that you can fail - you will do that more than you perform - and that it's not about failing but how you react; that has kept me in better stead than trying to hold my nerve.
"At the beginning of that over [in the World T20 final] it was a matter of knowing what I needed to do, that if I failed it wouldn't be for a lack of preparation or trying, and that I should just give it a go."
Give it a go he did.
With West Indies requiring 19 from six deliveries to lift the World T20 title for a second time - they previously won it by beating hosts Sri Lanka in 2012 - Brathwaite deposited Stokes into the stands at deep backward square, long-on, long-off and deep midwicket.
Marlon Samuels (85 not out) was at the non-striker's end but Brathwaite says at no point did he consider nudging for one and going against the positive approach West Indies had championed throughout.
"If you think '19 off six' you're next thought is 'no possible chance'," said the powerful right-hander, who took 3-23 in England's score of 155-9.
"So I tried to take myself out of the situation, out of the equation, out of the atmosphere, out of everything, and narrow it down to bat versus ball - watch the ball and react.
If I tried to hit a single after hitting a six and then missed out on a rank half-volley or a full toss and Stokes nailed fours yorkers against Marlon at the backend, then it was on me.
"We had been preaching responsibility in the dressing room from the beginning of the World Cup so if I tried to hit a single after hitting a six and then missed out on a rank half-volley or a full toss and Stokes nailed fours yorkers against Marlon at the back-end, then it was on me.
"My mind-set was that if I sky one in the air and get caught but we cross then Marlon is batting, but if I get it away then there are less runs to get at the back-end of the over.
"I just tried to maximise every delivery - fortunately for me I hit four for six and we were World T20 champions."
Despite a second World T20 triumph in three tournaments, West Indies' form in Test and one-day international cricket has tailed off.
The Caribbean clan are languishing in eighth spot in the Test rankings, while they have failed to qualify for the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy in England.
Brathwaite believes the team have become 'stagnant' in the longer forms but hopes their T20 success can boost their fortunes in all cricket.
"At this point we have the best T20 team in the world, but when it comes to other formats we are yet to find the correct structure and the way we want to play," he added.
"The longer the format, the more we are caught between wanting to play our natural game and putting that into a concept of stretching it to 50 overs or Test cricket.
"The quicker we find a way to mesh our natural game and the way the game is supposed to be played - or maybe we reinvent how we should play - that's when you'll see our results go up and up.
"Teams do go stagnant and some drop from the glories and never reach those heights again - we are probably stagnant and have been for a lot longer than we would like.
"But it only takes a little spark to take teams back and I hope this T20 victory and the passion it brought out in the Caribbean supporters gives the will to come back."
Watch Delhi Daredevils in action in the IPL on on Tuesday. Their clash against Gujarat Lions is live at 3pm on Sky Sports 3.
