“MS Dhoni taught me to accept failures instead of worrying” - Shashank Singh explains his learnings from the iconic ex-India captain [Exclusive]

MS Dhoni is considered one of the best finishers of all time. The wicketkeeper-batter's mantra has been to take games deep into the innings, and more often than not, he would help his team emerge victorious. However, in instances where he couldn't take his team home, Dhoni didn't get too perturbed and bounced back strongly in subsequent matches.

Shashank Singh, who has been a reliable finisher for Punjab Kings in the last couple of years in the Indian Premier League (IPL), said that Dhoni taught him to accept failures while batting in the lower middle order. The wicketkeeper-batter made Shashank understand that he won't be able to take his team to victories in every match. In instances where finishers can't get the job done, they are often too hard on themselves. This is something that Dhoni advised Shashank to avoid.

"Yes, absolutely, the number that I bat at I mean, he is a legend of it, he has won a lot of matches there in India, So whenever I asked him, I mean, I have interacted with him 5-6 times, I always try to ask him separately, but once when I asked him this time, I mean, not this time, I asked him every year, that, 'brother, when you go to bat number 7, what is the most important thing?'" Shashank recalled during an exclusive interview with CricTracker.

"He said, the most important thing is acceptance, because sometimes what happens, as I told you in the beginning, there is no acceptance, today I hit 6 balls 25 against Gujarat, every time I say that I will hit 6 balls 25, it will not be possible, especially with that number, conditions are different, high risk cricket ball goes up a lot, where high risk has high rewards, but again, high risk has high rewards, so your chances of getting out are more, so then the acceptance comes that I did it last match, why didn't I do it in this match, why am I not able to do it in the next match, so he used to say that there will be more failures than success, accept it, that it is going to happen at this number," Shashank added.

Shashank keeps reminding himself about Dhoni's advice

Shashank feels that as long as finishers can win their teams at least two games in an IPL season, they are doing well. The 33-year-old said that he keeps reminding himself about Dhoni's suggestions.

"You are not batting in the top team, where you can say that time is out, XYZ things, there when you have minimal time, when you are doing maximum things for the team, then there will be a lot of failures, accept them and move ahead, because you will get stuck there, then XYZ will also get spoiled, and if you are playing 14 matches of IPL, you are doing well in 2 matches, that means you are doing really well, so I said that I will not be able to win every match, I will accept it, but I will try to move on quickly for the next match and it will be good," Shashank said.

"So I think that advice which is with me today and I do all my batting, it is very important to remind it every time, because we forget something for everyone, so it is very important to remind that it is going to happen, so don't worry too much about it, because the human mind keeps moving a lot, a lot of thoughts come, so that is very important," he concluded.