A year ago Phillip Hughes was in the cricket wilderness.
Dropped from the Australian Test team for a second time the plucky left hander must have started to listening to those little voices that sometimes appear inside our brain that natter away at times.
Those voices can sometimes sow the seed of doubt in your mind.
Self doubt can paralyse you, leaving you unsure, down in confidence and on the canvas.
Hughes dragged himself up off the canvas and showed his great mental strength to return to the highest level.
Hughes also got more advice than Dr Phil would give at one of his counselling summits.
Hughes went away scored plenty of runs in Sheffield Shield and in county cricket in England and maintained his strengths and worked on his weaknesses.
In a nutshell, Hughes now keeps his head much stiller and as a result has better balance when batting.
The other noticeable improvement has been his leg side scoring options.
He was always a powerful off side player where most of his scoring resulted.
He now has shots and run scoring ability all around the ground.
Hughes’ own style of footwork and the way he faces the bowling and his unique backlift is probably not in the modern day coaching manuals.
One professional cricket coach told me that what Hughes had to do was simply make simple adjustments to his technique and trust himself the way he plays.
Hughes by his own admission in many newspaper articles, said he felt weighed down by all the advice and opinions.
The Hughes batting technique was developed batting in the rectangular shaped backyard of his parents’ Macksville home.
A couple of half centuries against Sri Lanka in the Tests this summer then two sparkling one day international centuries also against Sri Lanka showed the determined left-hander is back in business at a new position, No.3. He previously opened for Australia.
Hughes also said shifting from NSW to South Australia has given him a new lease of life.
Now Hughes has landed in India he will be a key man in the batting line-up in the approaching Test series against India.
With the retirements of Mike Hussey and Ricky Ponting, Hughes, now along with captain Michael Clarke, are going to be the cornerstone of the batting arsenal to combat India on their home soil.
And in my eyes, Shane Watson, provided he is fit, must return to the Test team as an opener to partner David Warner, which leaves Hughes at No.3, and Clarke at No.4.
That top four gives the team a steely look.