Management Lessons from India's T20 Exit

Team India was one of the favorites to win the T20 Cricket world cup 2021 according to many pundits. Reasons for being such favorites ranged from having the best batsmen and good spinners, decent pacers, and good all rounders at their disposal. In spite of this, India failed to qualify for the Semi Finals. Many blame poor form, too much cricket, lack of intent from the players, IPL, Covid bubble, and so on.

This is similar to having a great team of talented developers and still not able to deliver a quality solution. There were many management lessons (or potential avoidable mistakes) that any Software Development Manager (or any manager for that matter) can learn from this outcome.

Workload Management: BCCI failed to manage the workload of the players. Most of the players that flew to play New Zealand for the final of the Test Championship stayed in England to play 5 test series. There was IPL scheduled after the test series after which the T20 World cup was planned. Majority of the players in the squad played non stop Test cricket and then IPL. Other teams had managed their players workload much better and were more prepared for the competition than Team India's tired players. Team India is scheduled to host New Zealand in a little over a week after the world cup (If India had qualified and played Semis/Finals then it would not be even a full week break).

Software Development managers therefore need to learn from this and ensure that their developers are not over worked. A lot more quality output can be achieved with 30-40 hours a week than putting in excess of 50 hours to meet delivery timelines.

Equal Opportunity: BCCI did not give enough opportunity to new talent and stuck to the few players of their choice. Team India defeated Australia in Perth when the main team members were suddenly unavailable due to injuries/prior commitments. They had clearly shown that Team India has a good reserve of quality players. In spite of trusting the talent BCCI stuck to the old guns and paid the price.

It is good to give experience software engineers the opportunity but ignoring new recruits and not giving them a platform to prove themselves is a mistake that a Software Development Manager should avoid whenever possible. Playing it safe might be good in short run but in long run, it is smarter to allow new talent to prove themselves

Other factors that contributed include:

Too Many Managers: Too many leaders/managers create confusion, hides accountability and affects the morale of the team. BCCI brought it additional advisors that further created confusion in decision making

Lack Courage: Kohli was correct when he said that they lacked intent and courage. BCCI could have shown the courage to ask Kohli to step down as Captain before the tournament as he had already decided to step down after the tournament. No Software Manager would like to keep Project Manager service his/her notice period to lead a critical project. BCCI should have named a new Captain and Kohli could have been retained as a player (if the new captain wanted)

What happened with Team India in this world cup was not a surprise. India has the best pool of talented cricket, thanks to IPL, and yet didn't make it to the top four in the world cup. BCCI mismanaged the players and hence it's top management (Saurav Ganguly and Jay Shah) should be held accountable and not the players. When a company fails to achieve the goals in spite of having good resources, it is the top management that is held accountable and not the skilled and hardworking employees.

Hope BCCI learns these lessons and take corrective actions. It is possible to make money and stay competitive at the same time. India can easily play multiple teams, participate in bilateral series, win competitions and play IPL as long as the BCCI has smart and efficient management.