Adrian McInman: “What Rashid really should have said was, ‘Babar’s poor performances are due to dysfunctional thinking, especially fear, not technical matters’. Babar should think more positively”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
In yesterday’s article with Cricket Psychologist Adrian McInman, we discussed a comment by Pakistan ODI captain Mohammad Rizwan about “pressure.” Adrian suggested we should focus on perceptions and change them when necessary rather than focusing on “pressure”. Additionally, he suggested strenuous and consistent mental skills training, especially around matches, is needed for the Pakistan national men’s team to stop perceiving “pressure situations” and instead view them as “fantastic opportunities.”
So, I challenged Adrian with Rashid Latif’s comment about Babar Azam in September 2024: “He should… focus on freeing himself from mental pressure. The issue seems to be more about mental stress than technical performance, and it’s apparent that he is struggling to cope with a significant amount of mental pressure.”
Responding to Latif’s remarks, Adrian said: “This is a perfect example of one of Pakistan’s biggest problems. Rashid mentioned incorrect concepts like ‘pressure’ and incorrect words like ‘stress’. Those two sentences alone indicate the Pakistan national men’s team has not had consistent and high-quality mental skills training in a long time. It probably also explains why Pakistan is great one day and weak the next.
“You should never use the word ‘stress’ as doing so allows you to adopt a victim mentality, such as ‘poor me.’ Instead, we should acknowledge that when we say that we are ‘stressed’ we perceive a lack of control and believe the outcome will be negative. These two things combined cause fear.
“What Rashid really should have said was, ‘Babar’s poor performances are due to dysfunctional thinking, especially fear, not technical matters’. Babar should think more positively.”
Delving deeper into the realm of positive thinking, Adrian recommended a number of techniques that cricketers like Azam can use to ward off negativity.
“To help Babar think more positively, I would teach him to perceive situations, that most people consider negative or fearful, as simply doing his job. I would teach him 60-second relaxation methods such as diaphragmatic breathing, progressive muscular relaxation, and meditation, along with brief thinking techniques such as the Thriving Habit and NOISE affirmations,” he said.
“Let me give you an example. One excuse Pakistan cricket uses for not using cricket psychologists is that they don’t speak Urdu. But that’s just dysfunctional thinking. Like Babar, a cricket psychologist has a job to do and should do it. They need to find simple solutions, like putting cricketers into pairs so they can translate into and speak Urdu with each other, and use very short 20-minute sessions, so the players are not emotionally drained.
“Most importantly, the sport psychologist needs to be an effective mentor by using positive thinking and making things happen. For instance, I trained 65 cricketers at the Rajasthan Cricket Association in India. Only two spoke English, but the sessions were a huge success. Occasionally, administrators’ fears results in poor decisions. This hurts cricketers. According to the manager of the Sri Lanka women’s team, the squad became happier and more cohesive due to my mental skills training. But that only happened once I had overcome the defeatist thinking and resistance of other administrators (e.g., “There’s no point training them, as they don’t speak English”).”
Adrian outlined the impact positive thinking can have in everyday life, showcasing how it can elevate normal individuals into elite performers who consistently deliver at a higher level.
He said: “Anyone can perform phenomenally on one day, but to perform consistently phenomenally is the mark of a true professional. To be phenomenal, you must think effectively. Hence, maybe everyone at PCB needs mental skills training so the national teams can become Number 1.”
Adrian McInman
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@happierhorizons-adrianmcin179
Website: https://phenomenalperformances.com