If there was ever a day to follow sports, Sunday was that day. PV Sindhu created history. Ben Stokes delivered a miraculous Ashes victory for England and Virat Kohli and his men smothered West Indies in a one-sided contest.

While all the three stories are worth celebrating for different reasons, the one I personally enjoyed the most was the Ben Stokes innings. He single-handedly snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. This apparently is the first time since literally the inception of the game that a team has won in spite of getting out so cheaply in the first innings. And it’s the largest successful 4th innings chase for England. For a team playing this sport for more than a century, its a huge achievement.

From being reduced to 268/9 to chasing down 359, as he was inching closer to the victory, the one thought going in my mind was - Man! How does this guy consistently find himself at the center of such thrilling situations? 

You might recall, he was the guy who a few months back won England their first 50 over cricket world cup. 

And he was also the guy bowling the last over of the T20 WC final in 2016, where he got hit for 4 sixes by Brathwaite. That would have been a bitter pill for him to swallow.

Takes me back to the last sentence of the last post.

People who succeed in highly competitive environments have one thing in common - failure, and the ability to overcome it.

Sometimes, before you can win big, you gotta lose big too. Or, as it turns out in case of Ben Stokes - before you can win a world cup, you gotta lose one. 

What is true for sports is also true in startup land. And in life. You gotta swallow some tough pills and take few blows along the way. And keep showing up. It’s part of the game.

No shortcuts in life. At least, for the most of us.

Best,
Kaddy

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