Small towns, big dreams

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's remark: “A lot of players are coming up from small towns and they are mentally and physically tougher than those from cities" got Mid-Day's Anand Naik thinking if it was indeed true that players emerging from smaller towns had the ability to face adversity better than those from cities. He spoke to psychologists, coaches and BCC Talent Research officials for answers.

“In cities, there are a lot of options," said Dr BP Bam, a renowned sports psychologist. "So if one meets with a problem, he has an option to do something else. But in a small town, one will have to fight the problem because of lack of options. During this process, he becomes much more stronger and realises that he can achieve a lot by not giving up,” Bam added.