Former Australian all-rounder, Shane Watson, has opened up on how he helped Rovman Powell to be at his best during the recently concluded IPL 2022 in the seventh episode of The Delhi Capitals Podcast.
Delhi Capitals’ (DC) assistant coach also revealed how working on the mental aspect of cricket helped Powell, who amassed 250 runs for DC in the IPL 2022.
Watson said on the DC Podcast: “Everyone has an internal dialogue going on in their minds. We are in control of those dialogues, but most of us don't exercise control over those dialogues. Usually, the internal chats are negative thoughts such as fear of failure, don't make that mistake again, you should be better than that, and so on and so forth. But if you want to, you can be in control of your thoughts and redirect them to the right thoughts at the right time, which helps from a performance point of view. Rovman understood that and was able to redirect his thoughts.”
He added, “We never really deeply define the best version of ourselves from a mental skills perspective. Working with Rovman and deeply defining his best version helped him. And you could see in the game that Powell (33* off 16 balls) got us home against KKR. He was there to own it when he walked out to bat. He was exactly where he needed to be. In the end, this doesn't guarantee you the results you're looking for, but you've given yourself the best chance and that's exactly what Rovman did.”
Meanwhile, speaking about the mental aspect of cricket Watson revealed why he is interested in the mental side of the sport.
The Aussie said, “I find the mental side of the sport super interesting and I am obsessed with it. The players show incredible skill in the nets when they play without pressure. But once they go into the game, the players' mental environment changes significantly.”
Watson signed off by saying, “I have spent a lot of time developing my knowledge about this side of the game. Everything is always built around technique. Usually, coaches try to correct players' technique, but there's no chat about mindset and if your mindset is not right, then you won't be able to execute your skills. That's why one of my main focus points as a coach is to pass on the knowledge of the mental side of the sport to as many cricketers as I can.”
