Trader Cricket and You: An inspiring story for TRADERS

Making his debut in Test cricket for Sri Lanka, Marvan Atapattu scored a duck in his first innings. And again, in his second innings.

The selectors dropped him. So he went back to the nets for more practice. More first-class cricket. More runs. Waiting for that elusive call. And after twenty-one months, he got a second chance.

This time, he tried harder. His scores: 0 in the first innings, 1 in the second. Dropped again, he went back to the grind. And scored tonnes of runs in first-class cricket. Runs that seemed inadequate to erase the painful memories of the Test failures. Well, seventeen months later, opportunity knocked yet again. Marvan got to bat in both innings of the Test. His scores: 0 and 0. Phew!

Back to the grind. Would the selectors ever give him another chance? They said he lacked big-match temperament. His technique wasn’t good enough at the highest level. Undaunted, Marvan kept trying.

Three years later, he got another chance. This time, he made runs. He came good. And in an illustrious career thereafter, Marvan went on to score over 5000 runs for Sri Lanka. That including sixteen centuries and six double hundreds. And he went on to captain his country. All this despite taking over six years to score his second run in Test cricket. Wow! What a guy!

Six years of failing and trying...What do you all think made it possible... to stand up against all odds. The stakes were big... His Career, his lifestyle, how the people and society at large is going to look at him...

He must have been tempted to pursue another career. Change his sport perhaps. Play county cricket. Or, oh well, just give up. But he didn’t...

The difference is how he chose to respond


- rather than getting bogged down by the Situation that he is in... (not able to make runs when it mattered the most) he chose to Believe in his Skills

- even in the face of adversity (failing again when opportunity knocked his door the second time and then again at his next... not to forget having to wait for long period of time in between) he chose to Keep his Patience

&

- rather than worrying about what judgement selectors have made of him or for that matter what is going to be the Perception of other people about him he chose to Focus on Practicing and Developing himself and build on his experience and Lessons he Learnt

And the rest is history...

How many of us can handle pressure and failure situations as well as Marvan did?

He did extremely well in first-class cricket but on the big occasions he struggled and had to go through 6 years of pain and patience.

How many of us have been in similar situations.

When one does paper trade or trade with small amount things look simple and bright but when it comes to actual trade / trade with large capital (the bigger occasion) results start to differ and then we start to question ourselves..

"A man must believe in himself and his judgement if he expects to make a living at this game."

Remember Marvan had the necessary skills for him to believe in himself. It's just that it wasn't clicking for him.

There will be times when things may not work. When we will get it wrong. When we will make mistakes. yes mistakes. We have to accept it. "If a man didn't make mistakes he would own the world in a month. Wouldn't he...? But if didn't learn to profit from his mistakes he wouldn't own a blessed thing."

Each day is filled with decisions that shape the future. When you react, you’re acting from either memory or old habits. But to be successful , you need to be ready to respond calmly and rationally.

Responding means observing with intensity and awareness. It means not jumping to conclusions, seeing the situation from every angle and accepting that your opinion may not be the only one or even the best one.


What Marvan's story makes us realise is the choice to react and the way we choose to respond in any given situation is always in our hand and in our control.

If you believe in yourself, if you keep your focus and keep learning and practicing, the runs will eventually come....

A true HERO & ROLE MODEL for every trader.

Thanks Marvan for teaching us an important and valuable lesson.

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- Do let me know your views in the comment section below

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Take care & happy learning

You may also choose to read other 2 articles on the TRADER CRICKET & YOU Series through the links below