Jhakas | Sanjay Jha
I was in New Delhi on Wednesday addressing a sizeable group of India's young entrepreneurs on the importance of team-building to give their fledgling start-ups a cohesive and enduring management team. Most of us business school graduates have the natural propensity to delve into corporate case-studies and sure enough there are several outstanding instances of germane value. But as I looked deep within and up on the LCD screen where Virendra Sehwag was once again looking inexorable, the answers tumbled down with remarkable ease. It helped that India beat Sri Lanka in the first ODI at Rajkot by 3 runs in an unforgettable game. I did not need to do any further research on personalized leadership and creating a high-performance team.
I looked at the list of Indian players representing our country in the Mumbai Test match against Sri Lanka and found a staggering fact; we had Men in White from eight different states in the final eleven. In any given match, including a T20 or ODI, the composition changes just about marginally. India's diversity, it's much debated multi-cultural hue and ethnicity is suitably manifested in the Indian cricket team and perhaps best explains it's mesmerizing hold in the public imagination. Telangana can wait. We are all exhausted with the cliché; cricket is a religion in India, but in my opinion, the game actually manifests India's real secular credentials; the famous Pathan brothers hail from Narendra Modi's Gujarat. Continue reading below
Literally the cherry-topping of this colorful confluence is the team's captain, MS Dhoni (I confess to being his unabashed admirer). Dhoni comes from a state which has only just been carved out of the notorious Bihar. Jharkhand is in the news today less for it's glaring economic backwardness and more for a certain Mr Koda's money-laundering empire, which is a landmark episode in political corruption. When did you last hear of a player from Ranchi at a national level? Not to forget that MSD was playing for India A about 5 years ago. He has captained India since the last two.
In a span of less than a few weeks, with almost effortless ease, India has gone on to create records till recently considered beyond grasp. In Mumbai we scored a gargantuan 726 runs, our highest Test score. And after emerging winners at CCI, for the first time since it's institution attained the No.1 ranking in Tests. Historic stuff made to appear so easy by MSD & co. A few days later India chased the biggest T20 score of 207, and against all odds, surprised every cynical doubter at the fence in a completely contrasting format ; the extraordinary adaptation was palpable. But that was still to be further made ornamental by the sizzling 414 runs at Rajkot and after a brilliant Sri Lankan retaliation, eking a thriller victory. Even in ODIs a runner-up rank makes a telling statement. When was the last time one saw such consistent domination and sustained self-belief in a game so wildly unpredictable?
Dhoni has almost imperceptibly made winning a bad habit just when several critics were beginning to prepare for his annihilation after two multi-tournament failures. As he has proven since then, he will win some and lose some but the latter is unlikely to diminish his will-power, his inner resolve to get going. His team seems to have been affected by his contagious self-confidence. Almost all of them.
All this while, the BCCI which administers this mind-numbing crazy game in India is involved in it's typical Machiavellian maneuvers plotting the downfall of each other, playing dirty to win organizational elections and salvaging it's dwindling reputation somewhat by doing damage-control in resurrecting a Test series against South Africa. This makes Team India's success even more singular.
I did my MBA from Jamshedpur in Jharkhand which is in reasonable proximity to Ranchi. But watching Dhoni lead his team with his characteristic unflappable demeanor, steadfast imperturbability in all circumstances and an indomitable attitude, it seems incongruous to believe that the man I mentioned as my classic case example of team-work yesterday was probably just 5 years old when we read our management text.
More power to you Dhoni, if that is possible. And you have no reason to go to Boston.
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