I find preparing for cricket matches and preparing for exams very similar. Most of us in India are crazy about game of cricket and most of us do not want to miss a single game. The game has gone through several formats in last 4 decades. Still fundamentals are the same but the rules of the game vary from format to format. Test matches are played over 5 days period, One Day International (ODI) is 50 overs match and T20 is 20 overs match. The skills and temperament required for each format are different and we can see that by the team composition in each format. Like in test matches player’s patience is preferred over his aggression. While in T20 players who need less time to get started and has potential to score runs at faster pace are preferred. While the fundamental skills for cricket still holds good, the team selectors prefer different game approach based on format. Another observation is that when any player is out of form they need to go back to cricket basics and practice cricket fundamentals. Teams when they go to other countries (overseas) they need to have a week to two weeks boot camp to get themselves familiar with the environment in that country. Mostly the visiting team play practice matches with local teams to get adjusted to local weather in that country and pitches there. Selectors change the combination of players based on their understanding of the pitch’s behavior. Similarly, strategy and approach for all the formats vary. Often the key bowlers are given respect and played defensively while target bowlers are taken for a ride. Run rates are accelerated (adjusted) in final overs to put up a great score or to chase opponent totals. Now, if we consider our examinations, we need to learn the basic fundamentals of the subjects included in the exam. Based on the exam format whether its Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) type exam or theory type exams we need to prepare ourselves accordingly. Our practice match is trying mock tests, previous year exam papers to see how we are doing, determine weak areas and going back to fundamentals to strengthen our weak areas. We may develop our strategy to play to our strength and leave topics that we know we cannot score well. We also need to develop our question wise approach strategy keeping in mind limited hours. We may allocate certain time to different subjects if we have that liberty. Based on exam rules for negative marks we can select our questions to answer. We can take calculated risks based on our past experience through net practice. Planning is absolutely necessary to cover all bases. Based on exam syllabus we can plan our activities to learn various topics involved over a certain period of time. We must plan for time to get ourselves acclimatized to exam patterns like what cricketers do when they go overseas. Going defensive for the tough questions and targeting other questions for scoring can help achieve results. We can see that there is a lot of parallel between cricket matches and exams. If we work on fundamentals, prepare well, plan, practice, and play to exam rules we can achieve success in any exam. 

Avinash Moharil 

Author is a cricket fan and SahiTutor.com founder