Ronnie O'Sullivan is without doubt one of the few snooker greats to have transcended his sport and his affect has even reached the England cricket team, with Zak Crawley an enormous fan of the Rocket's psychological outlook. O'Sullivan's distinctive method to snooker has seen him emerge as a family identify, which is a luxurious that the overwhelming majority of his fellow gamers don't get pleasure from.

O'Sullivan's perception in model over substance as a mindset seems to be inspiring England's cricketers forward of their upcoming Test collection in India, which is ready to start on Thursday. Crawley has pointed to O'Sullivan's philosophy in explaining the considering behind their Bazball techniques, insisting that success will ultimately come in the event that they follow their weapons.

"I love the way Ronnie plays and talks about sport," mentioned Crawley. "To him, the way he plays is more important than the result. That’s such a powerful mindset. It’s a hard one to get into, but whenever you get into that mindset, you find yourself playing better.

"Baz [England head coach Brendan McCullum] is huge on that. He talks about all of it time, that the best way we play is extra vital in the long term, and that may carry outcomes. Baz all the time appears to search out the best second to talk.

"He certainly has an aura about him. He’s never negative. He’s an optimist. That’s what we need sometimes in English sport. As a nation we’re quite pessimistic at times."

Crawley went on to insist that England won't be deviating from their Bazball techniques in India, even when issues go awry within the opening Test in Hyderabad later this week.

"We’re not going to change our approach," he added. "It has to be judged at the time. We talk about being fully present. If you’re not present, you build up all these ideas about what it’s going to be like, what the pitches will be, but we could turn up and the first Test is on a belter of a pitch.

"We might flip up and it’s a completely raging turner, so you need to adapt your gameplan and play the state of affairs. You can’t determine that till you’re on the market and also you’re studying the state of affairs."

O'Sullivan, meanwhile, is certainly reaping the rewards of his approach to snooker having won the UK Championship, Masters and World Grand Prix in recent weeks. He secured the latter title on Sunday with a 10-7 win over Judd Trump, who let a 6-3 lead slip away from him as O'Sullivan took control at the business end of the contest.

The man from Essex insisted last year that 'scores are irrelevant' when he is playing in major events as he offered a telling insight into his mindset, saying: "There's loads of strain on the market, you get a bit tight and also you would possibly see the profitable line a bit too early. I feel scores are irrelevant.

"You will be more concerned about how you're feeling and how you're playing. I'd rather be behind but feel like I'm playing well, then you can go and dominate the game."

Follow our Express Sport web page on Instagram here.