Chandrakant Pandit starts public speaking for Vidarbha players to overcome fear factor

"When you speak in front of people, it boosts your confidence and critical thinking. You need proper preparation before speaking. You need to have clarity of thoughts because if you speak rubbish nobody is going to listen to you. So, it helps in all-round personality development of a player," a source in Vidarbha Cricket Association told TOI.

"Pandit has been doing this for the last 20 years while coaching at different levels in different states to India 'A' and India Under-19. Last year, he was concentrating only on Ranji Trophy. This year, he is looking at overall Vidarbha cricket. When he floated this idea, we were glad to start this. We want our players to be confident human beings in future. Public speaking will not only help them grow as a player but also as a person. Look at somebody like Faiz (Fazal). How well he speaks whenever he is invited to address. Umesh (Yadav) has improved his communication skills to a great extent in the last few years," the source added.

"This will benefit small-town players. When they come to Vidarbha set-up, they are generally in awe of everything they get to see. Most of them are quite shy. It takes some time for them to mingle with other players. Many city players are also introvert. All we want is to improve their self-confidence and lateral thinking and remove the fear of failure. Many times players have great ideas and understanding of the game situation but they are shy to speak out. Their silence sometimes hurts the team. This exercise also allows them to form friendships and understand the value of interpersonal relations," he said.