97 days to go – the calendar has started announcing the D-Day; all indications point to CAT 2020 happening as per schedule. And by all means, the preparation for the same should, by now, be at full throttle for each and every CAT aspirant.
Sometimes in the frenzy, though, we tend to forget something. Working hard is highly underrated, especially towards a competitive examination like CAT, which sees North of two lakh candidates appearing for it every year. Which is where one of my favourite sport comes into picture. No prizes for guessing. It, indeed, is cricket.
While there are so many aspects of cricket that one can take value from, there are loads of takeaways from the journeys of cricketers who make the game what it is – the Gentleman’s Game. The most prominent of such exemplary players is VVS Laxman (pronouncing his full name and getting the spelling right is as arduous a task as it is for performing the same chores for “Arnold Schwarzenegger”).
So with 97 days to go for CAT 2020, what actually can we learn from the career trajectory of V V S Laxman?
Here we go!
1) Facing the competition the Laxman way
Laxman had to fight hard to find a permanent place in the Indian cricket team. This is because the team already had a solid batting line-up that comprised the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid among others.
The first phase of Laxman’s career was patchy, as he struggled to make a mark with the chances given to him.
Get the drift?
CAT is an examination where competition is fierce, in the most literal sense of the word. There are always people who put in that extra bit of effort than you. And there are always people who seem to be or really are more talented than you.
2) Going for the best the Laxman way
The competition did not deter Laxman. Nor did it make him quit vouching for playing cricket at the highest level representing the Indian team.
He went back to the drawing board, started playing for domestic tournaments like the Ranji Trophy. His Ranji spectacles contained so many hundreds and double-hundreds that automatically made the selectors feel that he HAD TO BE a part of the team.
He made his re-entry into the team, and his second phase – or second innings, in the cricketing terms – proved to be a menace for the supreme bowling attack of the Australian bowling attack. Mind you, they had the invincible bowling combo of Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee, Jason Gillespie, Shane Warne and others.
And most importantly, the high point of his career – the unforgettable 281 at Eden Gardens, where he forced unarguably one of the best ever partnerships of Test cricket with Rahul Dravid – came in this phase, and that too – yes, you got that right – against the mighty Australians. India came back from the jaws of defeat to an unimaginable victory (I can feel goosebumps even as I type it out).
How is this relevant for CAT, with 97 days to go?
If you are not scoring enough in VARC, go back to the drawing board. Start reading with vengeance.
Complete three novels in ten days, if that is what it takes. If you are scoring low in Geometry, do 10 hours of Geometry this week.
Set yourself ambitious goals, and keep hitting them tirelessly. Be resilient. Like I keep mentioning every now and then, work is the best relaxant and motivator. You should be at a place where CAT preparation should not bore you.
3) Working forward – and not backwards – the Laxman way
How would one feel if one has given their best effort but still has not ended up getting what they “deserve”? Vehement. Upset. Depressed.
What are the most commonly expected outcomes of this? Giving up. Feeling left out. Along. Worthless.
Right? Wrong. Laxman did the exact opposite of this.
When he was dropped from the team because of the sheer competition and talent, he did not complain. The team had to field the best eleven. And if he had to be a part of the eleven, he had to be the best, or at least, one among the best.
That is exactly what he did. He went back to playing domestic tournaments, scored how many ever runs he was able to before he threw away his wicket (sometimes, bowlers realized that the only way to dismiss Laxman was him deciding to “throw away” his wicket), and then EARNED his rightful place back into the Indian squad.
While doing all this, he most probably did not think about a place in the Indian team. That was to be an outcome, but the joy of playing cricket was the primary purpose. We can see it in almost each and every single innings of Laxman.
Quite often, we can hear people still talking about Laxman not for his scoring blitz or the n number of of boundaries and sixes he scored.
People remember Laxman for perseverance, meticulousness, craft, hard-work, insatiable appetite… and most importantly for his comeback. That comeback witnessed the Laxman we remember today.
Connecting the dots to 97 days of CAT preparation
The inference is obviously staring at your face.
Never work backwards; always work forward.
What do I mean by that? You simply cannot have a particular expectation of a score or a percentile and practice/take mock with that in mind. This is the backwards process.
Practice a lot. Solve questions like a maniac. Be unassailable when it comes to all the three sections of CAT 2020. The results will speak for you, just like how they did for Laxman.
Stay safe, and best wishes for CAT 2020!
Rajesh Balasubramanian takes the CAT every year and is a 4-time CAT 100 percentiler. He likes few things more than teaching Math and insists to this day that he is a better teacher than exam-taker.
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