News APP

NewsApp (Free)

Read news as it happens
Download NewsApp

Available on  gplay

This article was first published 13 years ago
Home  » Cricket » Mind coach Webster to help Windies sort out issues

Mind coach Webster to help Windies sort out issues

Source: PTI
June 27, 2011 10:36 IST
Get Rediff News in your Inbox:

West Indies have requisitioned the services of world-famous psychologist Rudi Webster to sort out the lingering issues of their team ahead of their second Test against India starting on Tuesday.

Webster, lean and watchful as ever, attended the morning nets session of the West Indies team who are fighting to stay alive in the series, having lost the opening Test at Sabina Park by 63 runs.

Unconfirmed reports suggest that Webster will be working with the West Indian team at least for this forthcoming Test at Kensington Oval.

- 32nd Test ton physically tough, says Dravid

- Dhoni becomes 2nd most successful Indian captain

West Indies have been on a losing spree in recent times and their batsmen appear to be trapped in their old failing of wasting good starts.

"When you are in middle, your focus ought be on things going on in the present. You are where your mind is. There are two dangerous things in performance -- one is getting trapped in the past or thinking far too ahead in the future," Webster had said in the past.

"The second thing is thinking about all sorts of foolish things instead of the things you have to do on the field. In both cases, your concentration is in the wrong place."

Webster, widely regarded as cricket's best-known psychologist, was engaged by the Indian team during their last tour to the Caribbean in 2006.

India won the series 1-0 but Webster's direct role in this victory wasn't much highlighted.

Webster then had one-to-one sessions with many Indian cricketers, including opener Virender Sehwag who is injured and missed out on the Caribbean tour.

Webster, 71, is fond of many Indian cricketers, including captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Sehwag himself.

He rates Sehwag as a better striker of a cricket ball than even Sir Garfield Sobers, Viv Richards, Sachin Tendulkar and Graeme Pollock. He terms the Delhi dasher as "once in a generation cricketer."

As for Dhoni Webster said he "always felt Dhoni was going to be a tremendous leader."

After the Kingston Test, Dhoni now has won 15 of the 25 Tests he has skippered.

Webster, a local who now lives in Grenada, played first class cricket with Warwickshire during his younger days.

Greg Chappell benefitted from his advice which ended his run-drought of 1981-82.

Webster also mentally groomed Viv Richards after he was haunted by his team's defeat at the hands of Australia 1-5 during their Down Under tour of 1975-76.

Get Rediff News in your Inbox:
Source: PTI© Copyright 2024 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.

Paris Olympics 2024

India's Tour Of Australia 2024-25