Just keep batting the way you're batting – Nadine de Klerk reveals her father’s golden words

Nadine de Klerk has been a force to reckon with in women’s cricket of late. Her scintillating power-hitting has been a major boost for RCB while her all-round capacity continues to provide the much-needed support that the Royal Challengers have utilized in their ranks.

Talking on Big Basket presents RCB Podcast, Nadine opened up on how her family has been her support and how the competitive attitude in the family has uplifted her spirits. She shed light on how every individual cheers her up and the kind of advice that she gets from her family members.

Nadine said, “My dad video calls me every single day, so even if I've played or not. But yeah, I mean, it's always nice to phone home when you've done well or when you've won the game. But yeah, my dad's very supportive. Like, I think he understands cricket a little bit more than my mother, so he understands that the way the game goes sometimes it doesn't always work the way that we want it to, but he's very supportive. He used to always give me advice. These days, he just tries to be nice and chill.”

Revealing a few pieces of advice that she has received from her family, Nadine said, “Sometimes when I get out, he would tell me, like, I don't know why you play that shot. Why didn't you do that? And I think, obviously, as cricketers, we sometimes get annoyed with that because sometimes we know we stuffed it up and it's not ideal, but you don't always want to hear it again. But I think he's learned from that as well. Like, I think my dad's realized that sometimes, you know, as a player, when we've had a bad game, you don't want to hear what we did wrong and what's not. So I think he's gotten better.”

Talking further about her dad, Nadine said, “He's actually now just like, you know what, it's not the end of the world. It happened. So he's changed. Yeah, yeah, he's changed. Maybe it's because he's getting older. But yeah, but I think, again, even in my younger days, like so many different tips or just advice on just life in general, I guess, about not taking cricket too seriously.”

She concluded by talking about how her dad changed her cricketing journey, adding, “I think if all you think about is cricket, that you actually just forget about normal life. So yeah, like I said, he's changed and my brothers played a bit of cricket as well. So he would always just tell me, you know what, don't worry too much about this or that. Just keep batting the way you're batting. And so yeah, they're all really supportive and it's lovely to have them on my side. And like I said, even through the bad days.”