Analogy between Cricket captains and
Managers
Well no gyan baji here. Just observation as I am a cricket
enthusiast.
I have been
following cricket and especially Indian cricket and their captains since 1996.
I was in awe of Sachin Tendulkar smashing SriLanka and Australia in our very
own India. I thought here is another batsman and making of a captain. But the
time proved me wrong. Good batsman = Good captain.
When Indian cricket came under the scanner of match fixing,
here was a new and young Indian captain who was expected to do well in crises.
Similarly there is a manager category wherein they perform only under pressure.
Some managers are born to back a sinking boat. Some managers a born to
turnaround situations like Sourav Ganguly. Here was the manager who built team
from scratch where the fear of match fixing was looming over India cricket.
Identified talent and nurtured them, gave opportunities and time to blossom. Sourav
Ganguly is one captain who shaped careers of Yuvi, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Sehwag to
name a few.
Captainship is a baton that you forward one era to another.
Post Ganguly era, there came a shy person from Karnataka
leading the ranks of the Captain India-Rahul Dravid-The wall. When he came the
team was pretty much settled. You had Gambhir, Sehwag, Yuvraj, Zaheer,
Harbhajan, VVS Laxman, Tendulkar which formed the core DNA of the team. He was
not supposed to do tweaks here with the matured team. He was supposed continue
the legacy what Sourav left. So here is the manager category who does not have
to hire new people and form a team but just have to maintain the camaraderie.
No cost cutting, no new rules to the game, no tweaking of policies, just have
to maintain the discipline. Completely different skill set is required here
compared to the earlier situation which Sourav Ganguly faced. Under him he
showed perseverance by beating West Indies in West Indies, Australia in
Australia, England in England. Though there were lows of early exit in 2007
world cup.
So here is an analogy between Cricket Captains and Managers
in different situations of the phase.
Next blog is on MS Dhoni as a captain-Stay tuned.
