How does one define 'talent'?

[austerlitz]

This word is very popular in cricket forums ,but i never understood what exactly it implies.I heard andy roberts in a recent interview scathingly attack the concept of talent by saying when mediocrities play mediocrities,some inevitably perform well and often get labelled as talented.Do you guys subscribe to this view?

What makes a great batsman.I personally have divided a bastman's ability into 4 categories -

1.TECHNIQUE -
Includes stance,grip(determining shotmaking range),defensive compactness.

2.NATURAL ABILITY -
Includes eyesight,footwork,hand eye co-ordination,ball sense(ability to judge line and length quickly,play late)and general reflexes.

3.MENTAL TEMPERAMENT -
Includes concentration(to play long innings),ability to handle pressure,adaptability to survive according to conditions in the middle and opponents tactics , and focus.

4.FITNESS -
I believe this to be the least important from these 4 attributes of a batsman because cricket is a skill based game and we have seen many unfit great batsmen.But its importance is increasing rapidly these days with the amount of cricket played.I believe fitness can make a good batsman a better batsman,but it can't make a good batsman out of an average/bad one.

Overall i think the combination of technique and natural ability as described above is what most people are trying to describe as 'talent' in a batsman.I'd like to know how you guys define batting talent in a clear way.

 

[waleed88]

I think sitting from home watching TV, all I can say is batting talent is purely what 'appeals to the eye.'

Thats how I have seen most batsmen selected and rejected over the years.

 

[Savage]

This word is very popular in cricket forums ,but i never understood what exactly it implies.I heard andy roberts in a recent interview scathingly attack the concept of talent by saying when mediocrities play mediocrities,some inevitably perform well and often get labelled as talented.Do you guys subscribe to this view?

What makes a great batsman.I personally have divided a bastman's ability into 4 categories -

1.TECHNIQUE -
Includes stance,grip(determining shotmaking range),defensive compactness.

2.NATURAL ABILITY -
Includes eyesight,footwork,hand eye co-ordination,ball sense(ability to judge line and length quickly,play late)and general reflexes.

3.MENTAL TEMPERAMENT -
Includes concentration(to play long innings),ability to handle pressure,adaptability to survive according to conditions in the middle and opponents tactics , and focus.

4.FITNESS -
I believe this to be the least important from these 4 attributes of a batsman because cricket is a skill based game and we have seen many unfit great batsmen.But its importance is increasing rapidly these days with the amount of cricket played.I believe fitness can make a good batsman a better batsman,but it can't make a good batsman out of an average/bad one.

Overall i think the combination of technique and natural ability as described above is what most people are trying to describe as 'talent' in a batsman.I'd like to know how you guys define batting talent in a clear way.

Tbh in cricket,word "talent" is generally used for players who has underachieved or underperformed.(for 90% cases like Rohit Sharma etc)

I think almost all great players are talented.

Batsmen who are rated as underachieved talented player generally have this:

(Natural ability + how attractive his batting is) >>>(mental temparement,fitness etc)

I don't think fitness and mental temparement is ever associated with "Talent" in cricket.

if a player possess all these qualities in abundance then that player must be or would become an ATG.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

Number 2 mainly. There are some aspects of mental temperament that are natural such as maintaining composure under pressure or on the big stage. Not everyone is born with a killer instinct.

The rest fall under skills that can be developed.

 

[Pete Rose]

run tally. everything else comes after that.

 

[giri26]

To be frank, even if a player has Natural ability, if he does not have the other 3 you mention it will count to nothing. So Technique, Temperament and Fitness are the most important aspects of cricket. Steve Waugh was never pleasing to the eye but was one of the best batters under pressure and almost singlehandedly dragged Australia to the 1999 world cup finals. I would prefer that than someone who scores a pretty 50 with his natural ability and gets out.

 

[Sachin136]

To be frank, even if a player has Natural ability, if he does not have the other 3 you mention it will count to nothing. So Technique, Temperament and Fitness are the most important aspects of cricket. Steve Waugh was never pleasing to the eye but was one of the best batters under pressure and almost singlehandedly dragged Australia to the 1999 world cup finals. I would prefer that than someone who scores a pretty 50 with his natural ability and gets out.

Natural ability is the most important. There are thousands of cricketers with good temperament, fitness and technique. What separates them is their natural talent.

At the top level, it matters a little less though. Rohit has more natural ability than Kohli, but isn't nearly as good.

 

[giri26]

Natural ability is the most important. There are thousands of cricketers with good temperament, fitness and technique. What separates them is their natural talent.

At the top level, it matters a little less though. Rohit has more natural ability than Kohli, but isn't nearly as good.

Natural ability allows you to get noticed and get selected but in the long run if you don't have the other 3 qualities, you will be discarded soon. If you take all the great players, they were more than the natural ability they possessed. What would you call someone like Shivnarine Chanderpaul? Steven Waugh? or even Rahul Dravid? Hard working cricketers who had great temperament, did not probably possess the natural ability of a Sachin Tendulkar or Brian Lara or Rickey Ponting but they conquered it by the other 3 qualities.

 

[zain7077]

Umar Akmal is the definition of batting tailunt.

 

[Hamza_]

Stance is natural to a great extent.

You cant expect Fawad Alam to have a stance like Saeed Anwar?

 

[reversehook]

In my eyes "talent" gets used very loosely around the cricketing world. I guess to generalize it a bit every player that plays international games has to be talented as they were picked out of millions... so in that sense talented yes....

when it comes to looking purely amongst the players.... good alrounders (above decent in all facets of games) are talented in my eyes... or batsmen or bowlers who are miles ahead of other purists... rest are dime a dozen in the game...

and it is true that when yiu have mediocre players playing amongst each others you will have inflated avg's... and they come crashing down... similarly when u r playing amongst high lvls in domestic you may have lower avg's but on call ups they flourish bcoz they can handle the pressure.

 

[jnaveen1980]

There is no strict definition. In my view when your talented your natural reaction is better than someone with less talent. That alone is not enough. Reacting to a ball getting out early is not talent. But Reacting and sustaining for longer period defines a hugely talented player. From top of my head. Sehwag is one such. Lot of players are talented. But they also become disciplined over a time. Some people practice so hard that they can mimic natural reaction by persistency. They acquire talent through practice. You cannot imitate Sehwag. You can imitate Dravid even Sachin.

 

[austerlitz]

What is talent?

I want to ask this question once and for all since this word is thrown around so often.How do you define talent.Use categories.

Mental strength?
Footwork?
Strokemaking range?
Defense?
Eye pleasing batting style?
Hand eye co-ordination?
Ball sense?9ability to read length and play late)
Grip?
Stance?

Which ones you would personally hodl as most important for talent?

 

[CricketDon]

Talent is Umar Akmal
Umar Akmal is talent

 

[Bullet Drive]

Good example is:

Talent - Sharjeel Khan

Hard-work - Fakhar Zaman

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Talent : Umar Akmal and KL Rahul

Talent + Hard Work + Dedication : Sachin and Kohli

 

[Markhor]

The most abused word in PP.

There are many ways you could define it but for me, talent is not just about the natural gifts you are born with, but about analysing your strengths and limitations, and getting the most out of your abilities.

Younis Khan was derided as a workmanlike and limited batsman - yet he has had a far more fulfilling Test career than some of the more so-called "talented" teammates he played with. Shivnarine Chanderpaul had his hideous crab technique that no coach would ask their students to copy, had a limited array of strokes, but the guy played 164 Tests and averaged 51. He got the most of his ability which is a talent in itself. Steve Waugh didn't play the short ball well but had a method of surviving.

Talent will never be converted into performance without spending the time honing your skills. Cricket is a game of repetition, there's no substitute for batting hours in the nets or bowling long spells. People talk about how AB De Villiers is a freak of nature. What people don't see is how he'd ask someone like Dale Steyn to spend hours in the nets to bowl to him just practicising one shot.

However in Pakistan, pundits throw around the word talent as this innate object one possesses whereby success is simply a matter of time (and countless squad recalls).

 

[WengerOut]

Talent is the word used by fans for their favourite player when they can't defend him by his performance.

 

[Mamoon]

A Pakistani player who cannot perform.

 

[Buffet]

A word often used for players who can't perform.

 

[cricketjoshila]

Talent is ability to perform and to learn to perform better.

For some posters its the defence of a pakistani player when he fails to perform at the same level as a non pakistani one.

 

[Suleiman]

Here it's an excuse to keep selecting someone who doesn't perform.

 

[rhony]

In purely cricketing terms, in batting, I'd say talent is the ability to time the ball. Someone who has a great hand eye coordination is talented. It's raw strength/skill before one hones it to transform that into a consistent performance.

 

[Deewana Mastana]

A word that is used by mostly Pakistanis who know jack all about what it actually is.

 

[Ab Fan]

Innate ability perhaps, something you get by birth.

Gifted players are called talented ones.