Defying the odds.
Those three words often evoke the image of an underdog toppling a mighty force – like, say, the rebels taking the Death Star down in Star Wars. The images are those of the thrilling final moments, and narratives are usually partial to the “one big weakness” trope: someone just has to blow the thermal port, the massive Death Star’s fatal flaw.
It makes for arguably thrilling storytelling.
But if you are looking for inspiration from a defying the odds story, that’s the wrong lens to peer down. Daredevils who manage to defy odds are not the Han Solo “Never Tell Me The Odds” swagger variety, they are more like the inexperienced and unheralded (and some harshly critiqued) Indian Test cricketers, from Washington Sundar to Mohammed Siraj to Shardul Thakur to Shubman Gill to Rishabh Pant. And Cheteshwar Pujara, who contributed to a historic Indian win without setting out to go solo, as it were.
