Sourav SinhaEgo is the enemy

18August

Ego is the enemy

Cricket fans especially from India are having a joy ride like no other. Accepted that the team lost out in the WTC finals but the consistency of this team has been eye-catching. The season started on a sedate note though, with India being bowled out for 36 runs in the Adelaide Test. All experts including me wrote the team off!

But then the comeback started. India won Melbourne, then saved Sydney by the skin of the teeth, and then did the unthinkable of beating Australia at Gabba!

This Indian team doesn’t give up and if the Australian tour was the trailer another act was played out in India when after losing the first test against England in Chennai, India decimated England in the next 3 matches to win the series and thereby confirming their spot at the top of the WTC table.

In every way, this new cycle of WTC (2021-23) was expected to be tougher for India because they are lined up to play two tough series away from home – England and South Africa!

India doesn’t have a great record in England, though it’s far better than in South Africa. On the other hand, England in red-ball cricket is completely opposite to their world-beating white-ball team.

Add to that the injury woes and Ben Stokes pulling out at the last moment made this English team extremely vulnerable!

By all counts, rain robbed India a fair chance to win in the first test match but no one could stop them at Lords where fortunes ebbed from one side to the other but the Indian team came good when mattered and eked out an amazing win.

But why am I writing this? Lots of journalists have already penned their thoughts about the lord’s test match – then why? Well, cricket teaches us a lot especially when it comes to life and corporate management lessons. Other than giving us joy, this is another aspect which we keep learning from cricket.

So what did we learn from the Lord’s test match? I point out a few which caught my attention the most.

The ego is the enemy

Having ego stops us from thinking judiciously. We start believing that we are superior and we stop learning. When England batted and eked out a small lead there was this small passage of play when Jasprit Bumrah peppered the English number 11, James Anderson with short pitch balls. Anderson was left hopping around the crease and needless to say he was not thrilled one bit with that barrage of short balls directed towards his neck!

Fast forward, and that incident turned out to be the eventual turning point. At the end of day 4, India was 181/6 with a smallish lead of 154 runs. Realistically speaking it was Rishabh Pant who stood between England and victory. But early on the 5th day, Pant perished and the floodgates opened (or as it seemed). With tailenders to follow it looked game over for team India.

But quite unexpectedly England forgot the objective. In place of taking wickets in a normal way of pitching it up, they decided to target the Indian tailenders with short pitch bowling. Slips were removed and fielders were put on the leg side boundaries! It worked straight into India’s hands because feet movement was taken out of the equation. Overs after overs the tactic continued and India started building a healthy lead. The ego of Anderson influenced the captain Root and in place of trying to pick the wickets by bowling pitched up deliveries they resorted to short bowling and in the process handed India the decisive advantage.

When the history of this match will be written this aspect of bizarre captaincy would be written in golden words especially if the series is lost by England.

Never let your ego come in between your objective. Win matters – individual glory doesn’t matter.

Leadership matters

When Jim Collins wrote his famous book, Good to Great, he discussed his flywheel concept and one of the first clog in that wheel was Level 5 leadership. To build a great business what matters the most is great leadership. Leadership matters and that’s why you will never find a great company with weak or average leaders.

It was amply displayed at Lord’s on 16th August. On one hand, we found Joe Root who got influenced by his fast bowlers’ ego to completely go against the normal line of thinking by removing slips and bowling short balls to Bumrah and Shami. And on the other hand, we found Virat Kohli who gave a stellar speech to his bowling unit before the start of the 4th innings making sure that the team would be relentless in attacking the English.

England went with the mindset of winning a minor battle which eventually led them to lose the war.

To be fair, Joe Root accepted his mistake because he did say at the end of the match that he did some mistakes which should have been avoided in hindsight. That’s a good hallmark of a leader though because when you accept your mistake you find a path to win. And that’s what Joe Root will be aiming for heading to Leeds next week.

Teamwork wins

Leading by example is an apt lesson taught in management. By that yardstick, Joe Root was far ahead of Virat Kohli.

In the first innings, he held the English innings together by scoring 180 runs remaining not out. Even in the second innings if India had to win the match it was Root’s wicket that was the key. Finally, when India did go past Root, that’s the point from where the win looked a possibility for India.

But let’s delve into some numbers, first.

Number of runs scored by Joe Root this series: 386

That’s more than 40% of the total runs scored by the whole English team in two matches.

Number of wickets by James Anderson and Ollie Robinson: 18

That’s about 65% of the total wickets taken by England across two tests. Both of them have a fifer too.

Now compare this with India. There are no runaway winners other than KL Rahul in batting. In bowling, all bowlers have contributed more or less equally other than Jadeja who has been under-bowled. Only Bumrah has one fifer.

This was the same scenario in Australia earlier this year too. The man of the series, highest run-scorer, and highest wicket-takers were not from India but finally, it was team India who took the series.

The point I want to make here is that it’s the team that wins. Individual results are good for optics but if you are to be remembered in history, you as a team have to win in tough conditions. You have to win against adversities. In Australia, the Indian team came back from a disaster in Adelaide to win the series 2-1 with many of their frontline players being injured. Here, going into the 5th day England had a bigger chance to win but how spectacularly did team India bounce back?

This happens through sheer teamwork. Each and everyone puts their hand up and gives 100%. The pressure created when a team works in tandem is much much more than when a team is solely dependent on a couple of players.

The relentless attack of the 4 pronged pacers of India was a sight to behold. We have seen that with England in the 70s, West Indies in the 80s, Australia and Pakistan in the 90s but we have never seen that with India.

In that sense, it was a new India that was visible on 16th August who was not ready to give an inch to the opposition. The whole idea of intimidating Bumrah backfired because the expected protagonists were left vanquished.

If you compare Virat Kohli with Joe Root individually, particularly in this series, Root is far ahead but when you look at the final results, India is ahead.

England went to win the battle but ended up losing the war.

Let’s not forget the back-end team of India at this moment of glory. Bharat Arun and Vikram Rathore have been doing a stellar job at the back. That India could attack relentlessly with that 4 pronged pace attack has a lot to do with the work that Bharat Arun has been doing with the team over the past many months. Similarly, if Shami and Bumrah were going behind the line of the ball on the 5th morning we have to give some credit to the batting coach, Vikram Rathore. His efforts are bearing fruits.

As I said above, it’s the team that wins. For long, in the ’90s or later in the new millennium we used to see individual performances which helped India win but now it’s more about everyone in the team contributing. That’s what great teams are all about, be it cricket or in corporate life. It’s the team that wins. Backing each other and making sure that everyone’s contribution matters is what differentiates between a great team to an average team.

This current Indian team is a perfect example of that.

Let’s not get too overboard though. Three test matches are still to go and India should be ready for that. Lord’s win was great but winning the series would make this win sweeter in the final analysis.

Let’s take a breather for a week and come back stronger and hungrier on 25th August. Headingley is like an English fortress so India needs to be at their very best to keep the momentum with themselves.

Bring it on. Headingley here we come!

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