Thank you Team India! You made us proud - Lessons from India's world cup campaign

So, the world cup is over and India team lost at the semi-final stage. The dream over and all of us have been disappointed. 

Even though India lost, their campaign left some important leadership lessons for me. Here is what I feel about them.

Being on top yesterday does not guarantee success today

India had been the best performing team in the world cup. Batsmen were scoring runs, bowlers were taking wickets and as a team, we were clicking nicely.  

Between yesterday and today and when New Zealand set a modest target for India, we were very convinced that it’s our game and we will in easily. We, as fans, were confident (probably overconfident) that India will easily defeat New Zealand but was not to be.

Most of us felt it was a matter of us turning up and we will win! 

So, as a leader, you need to be aware that just because you are on top, right now, you are not guaranteed to bring success to everything you do.

You need to be relentless in the pursuit of success, one blip and you could be gone

As Virat mentioned in the interview, “we just had 45 bad minutes in the tournament, and we are out”. Its fact and an unfortunate fact. Everyone has bad days, however there are times when you simply can not afford to have bad days. For India, semi-final was one such day. Those bad 45 mins of our innings ruined months and years of hard work done by boys in the context of winning the cup.

As a leader, we need to be relentless in the pursuit of success and be aware that one bad moment can ruin you of efforts. There are times when failure is OK, but there are times when failure is simply not acceptable. Be aware and strategize accordingly.

 Its not over until it’s over

When India lost 4th wicket for 25 odd runs, everyone gave up the hope of any turnaround and felt that match was gone. Around me in the office, I saw people leave the cafeteria (where match was being broadcasted) and switch off the broadcast on their laptops / mobiles giving up on any revival.

Jadeja & Dhoni had different plans and almost took team on the verge of making impossible a possible. The hope rekindled again, and the cafeteria was again full of people and everyone (including me) turned back on their mobiles / laptops for live telecast.

So, as a leader, you should never lose hope, despite difficult situations because its not over, until its really over.

Your past does not decide your future

No one pinned hopes on Jadeja to come to crease and bat the way he did. There were lot of comments and controversies about him prior to him being included in the playing squad. However, both Jadeja & Dhoni showed that the past does not necessarily decide your future.

For Jadeja, based on his past playing experience, no one expected him to score the way he scored and for Dhoni, like many times in past, everyone expected him to finish the match in style.

Both players defied past and played a different game.

So, for leaders, its important to not to judge people based on their past but have an unbiased and open view about people based on their current skills and possibilities associated with future.

It’s a game of risk and small margins and they may cost dear

Few centimetres!

That was probably the distance between Dhoni’s bat and the crease when the ball directly hit the stumps that got him out. With that one throw, the world cup hopes vanished completely. 

Dhoni had to take a risk to take 2 runs because he knew, he had to come back to batting crease if India had to stand any chance of winning. He took a risk for running the second run. 

Would we have won if Dhoni had taken only single instead of two runs?

Would we have won had the ball not hit the stumps and Dhoni stayed till end? 

No one knows, but in a game of 22 yards, we possibly lost the game by 4 centimetres.

Risk taking and decision making is an important aspect of leadership and as a leader, you need to be able to calculate situations which are worth risk taking and those which are not. After all, every game is a game of small margins that decide win or loss. 

Win as a team, lose as a team

What I liked the most about the India team was their team unity and team spirit. Although Kohli was the named captain of the team, we could all see everyone contributing on field and supporting each other on decisions. At times, I could see Rohit, Kohli & Virat in huddle together deciding next step.  

Every statement from every player, every interview, emphasized the team contribution and valued the team over self-performance.  

Despite having stand out performers such as Rohit (5 centuries), Kohli (5 consecutive half centuries), Shami (hattrick), Bumrah (awesome bowling), Jadeja (super sub fielder), each one of them made it a team game.

It was heartening to see the team that stays together in win and loss.

Leaders need to build the teams with top performers that put team before self and are willing stand together no matter win or a loss.

Make today’s pain as your motivation for future gain

I am proud of the team and their performance during the tournament. They did amazingly well throughout the tournament. It is very painful and unfortunate the way it ended against New Zealand, but despite the loss, there was a strong determination in each player’s eyes to come back stronger and try harder next time.

A great lesson for leaders here. There will be pains and disappointments along the way, but never lose heart and make your today’s pains as a motivation for your future gain.

I am proud of our team, proud of the way they played and proud of all our boys.

Thanks for making me fall in love with the game again!

I will be back, cheering for you all next time!

Love you India!

#teamindia #cricket #worldcup #leadership #strategy