London: Top flight sportsmen get to do what they do for a living because in addition to their talent, skills and natural physical gifts, they have single-mindedly devoted themselves to a goal, to an ambition. They refuse to give in when faced with failure. They stick to their processes stubbornly. However, it is a fine line between stubborn bloody-mindedness and insanity. After all, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is, as Albert Einstein famously said, is insanity.

When India toured England in 2014, they had put together a plan that they would attack the new England offspinner Moeen Ali. MS Dhoni firmly believed that if they hit the offie out of the attack, Alastair Cook would be left with no choice but to bring his pacers on, which in the course of a long five Test series will add mileage on their weary legs. However, that plan went awry as in the process of attacking the non-threatening offspinner, India began gift-wrapping the wickets. Even as India fell behind 2-1 in the series after a three-day rout in Old Trafford, Dhoni was stubborn in his plan, and said he and his team would continue to attack Moeen every time he came on to bowl.