Cricket WC 2011: Management 2011

The Indian team has won the Cricket World Cup 2011, in great style, bringing back the coveted Trophy to India after a gap of 28 years. This is a dream come true for many of us, and the recognition given to the team is still fresh in our minds. This is all on surface level, where the celebrations are seen.

However let’s look below the surface – dwell into the unseen and try to understand the factors which has gone into shaping this memorable moment. It shows tremendous amount of preparations, hard work, sacrifices, challenges and dedication which has fashioned this team into world champions.

Some of the learning’s which we can draw from this and use in our own work life are:

1.   Have a Vision: Team India had targeted this cup about two years back and had worked towards it since then, as a united force. The role of Gary Kirsten who developed this vision by rotating the various players, preserving the senior players(Tendulkar, Sehwag, Yuvraj) from injuries, conditioning camps etc., was very important. Gradually the momentum was developed so as to peak at the right time.

2.   Discipline and Hard work: Each person was seen working hard in the nets perfecting his style. It did not matter wheater it was Sachin Tendular with 99 centuries under his belt or Ashwin or Zaheer each person was seen working hard towards self-improvement. So there was no ego or over confidence typically seen wherein a more experienced hand feels that we knows everything and its only junior who have to improve.

3.   Believe and support the Leader: Throughout the campaign it was seen that the team believed in their captain Dhoni and no one complained. So Raina had to sit out for many matches, Ashwin was called only for two games, Nehra was given a shot in semifinal even though he was low on confidence, Dhoni superseded Yuvi in batting order in the final, Shreeshanth was played in final despite a poor form. Each time the Captain gave them a role the players contributed in style. So Yuvraj became a full time bowler, Raina came down the order for crucial matches, Ashwin came in as opening bowler, Zaheer came in during power plays and they worked miracles. Any of the decision may have back fired but team was willing to take the risk for their leader and to succeed. The leader on his part came in at the highest pressure point in the finals and soaked in all the pressure and supported his players to win the cup for the team.

4.   Common Goal: Each member of this squad wanted to win this cup, which all other countries also wanted to. But Indian team wanted to win it for the greatest cricketer ever, Sachin Tendulkar. That made it a common and passionate goal - To Win this WC for Sachin.

5.   Believe in Yourself: In the initial part of the tournament the bowling was considered to be the weakest link and we saw it, when our bowlers were struggling against the weaker sides like Ireland, Bangladesh and Netherlands. But they didn’t give up and rose to the occasion in the tough matches – Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. In the end it was the bowling which turned the tide for India.

6.    Dare to do different things: Before the tournament Yuvraj was written off by one and all, including many of the so called cricketing experts. But he did not give up, but went ahead and worked hard on his bowling along with his batting. So when the WC started he shaped up as an excellent bowler in addition to his regular role as a batsman, thus wonderfully filling up the position of an all-rounder which India desperately needed. This enabled the team to play with only four regular bowlers.

7.   Enjoy Each other’s success: This builds up the team and keeps it going. Indian fielding was considered one of the weakest and this issue was raised up during the post-match press meets as well. However with each match the quality of fielding showed remarkable improvement. This ultimately contributed to the team collectively saving more than 30-40 runs in the finals. This was made possible when each player gave his everything to field, ignoring danger of injury, to take catches, save runs and effect run outs. We could see how players were cheering each other for each run saved.

8.   Do not bother as to who gets the credit: This was exhibited in many instances across many matches played. We saw Gautam Ghambir play beautifully against Australia and letting Yuvi get the credit and also in finals getting a classic 97 and letting others get the credit. He enjoyed the fact that the Team won and not that he got credit or not.

As the famous saying goes

Coming together is a beginning.

Keeping together is progress.

Working together is success.

~Henry Ford

So let’s draw inspiration from this wonderful win of our Indian team to develop and be part of winning team wherever we find ourselves currently or would be moving to in future. This can be done only by making winning an habit, or a culture – a performance culture.