The Month that was Down Under

After many months of thinking and procrastinating, I finally decided to write my first blog post. But this week, I had to first wait for my heart beat to become normal and my nerves to calm down, and I will explain why. 

What a month it has been.. We had a nice and relaxing Christmas break and were fully energised coming into work on Monday. But something really significant happened on Tuesday across the ditch, which not everyone would have observed and taken notice. And since it is my first blog, I couldn't think of a better way to start than talk about two topics - one which I have been passionate about since I was 8 or 9 years old - CRICKET (surprise surprise  ), and the other is something I am learning bits and pieces every day and interests me tremendously - LEADERSHIP. 

For those who wouldn't have known or heard, the Indian Cricket team defeated the mighty Aussies in a cricket Test Series in their own backyard. Well, how is that significant? Test matches happen all over the world, and teams keep winning and losing all the time. That is what sport is about, isn't it? And it wasn't even the first time that India had won a test series in Australia. Then why is this so nerve wracking, and woke me up from my slumber to write a blog post about it? Let me explain along with tit bits of life/leadership lessons each one of us can pick up from this event. 

When you are at your lowest point in life, the only way is upwards 

On December 19th, in the first test match, India were bowled out for 36 in their second innings !! Yes, that's right.. 36 all out. That was the team's lowest-ever total in their 88-year history of Test cricket, and the 5th lowest total ever in the game's 150+ year history. A team which had one of the best (if not THE best) batsmen of the modern era in Virat Kohli, and had won the previous series in 2018/19 in Australia, and expectations were sky high. If not win this time, at least give a tough competition to the Aussies. And boom !! Suddenly the entire team collapses for 36 all out. 

Australia lead the 4 match series 1-0

And to make matters worse, the captain of the team was going back on paternity leave. So how do you bounce back from such a position?

The coach gathered the team on the same night and said: 'Wear this 36 like a badge on your sleeves and you will be a great team'. The stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane was a cool and calm character (more on him later). They came together and formulated a plan called "Mission Melbourne" (the next match was going to be in Melbourne on Boxing Day) So what was Mission Melbourne?

• The team was given a day off to relax and recuperate from the loss- no discussion on strategy.
• Light hearted activities were organised in the evening so they dont mull over the loss.
• Strategic plans were made on how to approach the next match.

A great lesson in leadership to be learnt here. As leaders, when we or our teams fail, we sometimes tend to focus a lot on what went wrong, post mortems and how this could be avoided in the future. Sometimes, all that is needed is to take our and the team's mind off the failure and take a break to relax and recoup. And then approach the desired outcome differently.

When the team was bundled out for 36, rather than mulling over it, the team knew its strengths and considered that as an anomaly, rather than a pattern. The immediate response would have been to strengthen the batting (as the team couldn't score runs), but instead the team identified that their strength for the next match considering other factors, would be their bowling. And they added an extra bowler.

Thinking outside the box and sticking to your strengths can pay rich dividends. And it is up to the leader to create an environment when failures are accepted, but the team is always focused on the ultimate outcome to be achieved. 

The leader sets the tone !! 

Ajinkya Rahane (the stand-in captain), as mentioned above, is a calm and composed character. A leader who doesn't show much emotions, and lets his work do the talking most of the time !! He not only lifted the team's morale with his calm demeanour, but also led the way to a stunning recovery in Melbourne. 

He led from the front, scoring a brilliant century which lifted the team's morale and India won the test match and levelled the series 1-1. What a turnaround !! 

A team always looks up to the leader- be it to set an example which they can feed off, or to learn and observe the leader's demeanour. If the leader is nervy and flustered against the face of adversity, that rubs off on the team. Conversely, when the leader shows calmness and lifts the spirit of the team, acknowledging failures and motivates the team to achieve higher things, the team invariably repays the faith shown by the leader. A happy team is a successful team !! 

Be ahead of the curve

When the team arrived in Sydney for the third test match, a few injuries stuck the team and it was without 4 of its frontline 11 players. For the final test in Brisbane (more on that later), the team was without 7 of its regular 11 players. But the team has such a fantastic reserve pool of players that they stepped up, and delivered stellar results in crunch demanding situations.

So how was this possible? Was it just pure luck that these players delivered when it mattered? How did these players have the mental toughness to survive in such hostile conditions? 

It all came down to meticulous planning initiated 4-5 years ago by the wider team management to groom younger players, and make them ready for bigger battles in the future. And these "reserve" players were exposed to tough conditions throughout their grooming. So when they were called on to deliver in tough situations, not one of them flinched. 

A leader or a group of leaders cannot just plan for the immediate problems but think of the future, and how seeds sown now will reap rich dividends in the future. It is a tough choice between fighting today's fires and larger issues of tomorrow. Short-sightedness is a leader's bane. 

Mind over matter

During the third test in Sydney, India needed to bat over 90 overs on the final day to survive the test match and avoid a loss. By mid-day, India had just 4 wickets left and had to bat almost 50 overs to survive the match. This was a very tough ask, especially in Australian conditions with hostile bowling, verbal assaults by players in the middle, and racial slurs by the Australian crowd. And to top it- there was a batsman who couldn't run as he had injured his hamstring, and the other who couldn't even stand straight the previous night due to a back sprain.

But these two survived. They were not guys with the best abilities, but with a steely mental resolve. They knew they had one job at hand - to ward off the Australian assault and hang in there. Even if it didn't look pretty, it took all their physical energy away, but they didn't budge. Similarly, in the fourth test match, against a hostile bowling attack, one man decided to stand in there and take all the blows for the cause of the team.

Being mentally tough weighs in much more than abilities to perform the job. This is applicable for a leader as well as the team. Abilities can be acquired over a period of time, and improved. But it is how we deal in tough situations that define us. The job at hand doesn't need to be the most attractive or the most flashy, but as long as we know that the team benefits from it, there should be no two thoughts about doing it. And however tough the situation is, a mentally strong person with average abilities will invariably succeed over a super talented individual with a weaker mental resolve.

The team knows best

The team knows HOW to get the job done in the best possible manner. Leaders can provide support, help and guidance. But ultimately when it comes to executing plans, it is wisest to let the team go about their job. 

In the above example in Sydney, when the two guys in the middle were doing a great job, the team management tried to send them tips on how to go about their business. But this is what the messenger did:

The collective brain of the team doing the job is always always better than one or two individuals trying to direct the team on HOW to go about their business. And in pressure situations, the team knows best how to handle it, and get the best outcome for the team. In such cases, it is best for the leader or the management to take a step back, have faith in the team to get the job done, and in most cases the results will be there to be seen. 

A leader is not always chosen

When the team arrived in Brisbane with the series drawn at 1-1, there were more injuries and the bowling attack was severely depleted. The most experienced bowler in the Indian team was Mohammad Siraj, a guy who was playing his 3rd test match. The others had played 1,1 and 0 test matches respectively. So, Siraj became the natural leader of the attack. Did he ask for it? No. Did he doubt himself to do it? Not for a second.

Here was a guy who had made his debut in the first match of the series, and now he was leading the attack. He had to guide the newbies based on his limited experience. But boy, what a leader he turned out to be !! The inexperienced Indian bowling line up with a combined wicket tally of 13 wickets (compared to the Aussie attack with a combined tally of 1046 wickets) delivered and India won the series. 

A leader is not always chosen. Sometimes, opportunity presents itself in a way that you need to grab it. Or as in this case, you naturally become the leader. But it is important to not be overawed by the situation, and doubt your abilities. Have faith in yourself and step up when needed - that is the quality of a true leader. 

Be brave and go for the win

On the final day of the test series in Brisbane, India needed 328 to win the test match and the series. Just to put that in context, no team in the history of the game at Brisbane had scored more than 236 to win. Also, this was the "Gabba Fortress" for Australia, as they had not lost a match here since 1988. 

The odds were heavily stacked against an Indian win. Moreover, a draw would have levelled the series at 1-1, and India would reclaim the trophy (based on the previous series win). So, a conservative mind would have said "lets hang in there like we did in Sydney, and get a draw".

But not this bunch of folks, who were fearless in the face of whatever was thrown at them. The Australians thought India would go for a draw. The world media thought the same. But not the team themselves. They dismantled the problem into its smallest bit, found the one repeatable thing they could do to the best of their ability and hammer away at that part of the problem. Got through that and moved on to the next. Rinse. Repeat. And finally they delivered the win - they breached the "Gabba Fortress".

When we are making decisions in life as a leader or as an individual, being fearless is what separates the men from the boys. And as the saying goes- "Fortune favours the brave".  We may find ourselves in situations that we ostensibly don’t have enough resources to cope. Or a circumstance where history is against us. Or overawed by the sheer size of a challenge before us. But being brave and sometimes taking the leap of faith is what is needed. One shouldn't be afraid to take risks or experiment. It is perfectly okay for some experiments and risks to not work, but at least the effort was there.

So between 36 all out on 19th December and winning the series 2-1 on 19th January, this Indian team has left the whole world gasping for breath !! This win doesn't solve any world problems, but it will surely be talked about for decades to come. It has left me and millions others with a lifetime of learnings which can be applied to any sphere of life we are in. I could go on and dish out at least 10 more leadership lessons from this series, but I will leave it for another blog (or maybe not).