Saturday 29 June 2013

Toastmasters Speech Project # 4 (Get to the point)



ARE YOU MORE INTELLIGENT THAN A COW ?

Sri Lanka fashioned their 1996 World cup campaign on a new found fortitude, “pinch hitting openers”. Their game plan throughout the world cup campaign revolved around a blazing start from the openers. It was no different for this semi final against India in Calcutta as well. But to their horror, their 2 trump cards, Sanath & Kalu both got out in the very first over of the match…..

‘Thousands and thousands of Indian fans started dancing in the streets of Calcutta’. Why not ? They have have cleared the main hurdles to their drive to a World cup final !


Meanwhile in the neighboring country, 20 million people were in deep shock...They pinched themselves hard in disbelief, with the hope of waking up from this nightmare…there was a pin drop silence throughout the whole country, and only silence prevailed…..just profound disappointment, only silence could convey.

Sri Lanka’s game plan was in total disarray…analytical thinking was the need of the hour !

Fellow Toast masters & distinguished guests, Good evening !

A horse or a cow would just go where it is led to, but a man is supposed to be more intelligent. They are supposed to think beyond and take quick & intelligent decisions according to the demands of the situation. It is for that; they are gifted with something called an “Analytical mind”’. Today, I want to stress the importance of Analytical thinking or using your analytical mind. To do that, being a cricketer myself, no better example comes to my mind than this story I’ll share with you today, where 2 quick & intelligent decisions provoked by Analytical thinking, brought immense glory to my motherland.

Toastmasters, join me to relive the glorious memory, once more….

Sri Lanka’s 2 master blasters have had a rare failure…..someone had to take a quick decision and do something special to resurrect the Sri Lankan innings…and that man to use his Analytical mind that day happened to be Aravinda de Silva. He assessed the situation and took a quick decision…a brave decision….“to counter-attack”….what unfolded in the next hour was breathtaking and magical. Aravinda played delightful cricket strokes one after another. His strokes were played with such precise placement that fielders were rendered redundant.

Aravinda scored a half century at maniac pace. Thanks to his phenomenal aggression, Sri Lanka gained the momentum back and managed to pile up a competitive 251 on the scoreboard.


Batting first and putting up a challenging score was only half the job done. The next task in the game plan was to get some Indian batsmen out pretty quickly, and put them under pressure. But, it was not to be...Chasing 252 for victory and a place in the finals, India were cruising to their target.....2 CARS were motoring them along….Sachin Tendul”KAR” & Sanjay Manjre”KAR”…..
“1.6 billion Indians were starting to sense the smell of Silver”, the refreshing smell of a brand new World cup…..meanwhile in the neighboring country, world cup hopes of 20 million Sri Lankans were getting 'evaporated even under the night sky '.....

Things were not going according to plan. Someone had to use his Analytical mind and do something special to stop this run spree....and this time it was Arjuna Ranathunga....Arjuna’s keen eyes noticed a rough “patch” in the “pitch” created by the bowler’s footmarks. He took a decision. Toastmasters, the 2nd quick & intelligent decision taken by a Sri Lankan on that 13th day of March 1996. He threw the ball to Sanath Jayasuriya and asked Sanath to bowl to that rough. Sanath obliged....Arjuna was right, the rough offered vicious turn & bounce. 2 balls later Sachin was stumped….Manjrekar & Ajay Jadeja were bowled, off the rough….and that opened the flood gates. India started to crumble like a pack of cards. They lost 7 wickets for 22 runs in the blink of an eye. From being in a commanding 98/1, they collapsed to a fatal 120/8….“Sri Lanka stormed in to the 1996 Cricket World cup finals beating India”………

Meanwhile in the neighboring country, that same 20 million people were pinching themselves yet again, in disbelief. But…ever so gently this time, they did not want to wake up from this fairytale….

Toastmasters, Sri Lankan cricketers defied the odds thanks to the Analytical thinking of Aravinda & Arjuna. By using their Analytical minds, these 2 cricketers proved that they are more intelligent than a horse or cow. How about yourself ?.....Are you more intelligent than a cow ? I don’t want to know the answer, but in case you feel doubtful, now you know what you need to do !

Analytical mind…….USE.......YOURS !






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