India lost the semi-final match to New Zealand. It shouldn’t have happened in the normal course, and there are some great management lessons from the game for us, which I share hereunder:
a. Over-dependence on a few critical resources
The Indian cricket team has so far been led well by the top order. Together, Rohit, Rahul, Kohli & Shikhar had always set the team’s pace while batting and scored big to not just set up big totals for the opposition to chase, but also to ensure that any total faced by India was chase-able. When it came to the semi-final, it was a classic failure, where, for the first very time in India’s history, the top 3 batsmen departed scoring a single run each. When the big 3 fell so early, the otherwise small chase became daunting, and our middle order couldn’t cross the total.
b. Inadequate fallback options
The renowned, but unsteady, middle order of the most-feared batting unit in the world collapsed when it needed to perform the most. Pant, Karthik and Pandya all added a little bit to the total but their cautious (much needed at that time) approach made the required run rate go out of hand slowly and steadily. By the time Dhoni came out to bat, we were already reeling at 92/6 in 30.3 overs – a really sad total even by test standards. However, all was not lost, as the required run rate was 7.6 for the remaining 19.3 overs. Could have been chased had we enough wickets in hand.
c.Wrong utilization of resources
When in doubt, go with your instinct, goes the saying. Predictably, that’s what the Indian team did in sending Karthik and Pandya ahead of Dhoni. What we needed after the departure of Virat was the calming influence of Dhoni. We decided, instead, to go with our younger go-getters, in the hope (definitely not in the belief) that they would not just stabilize the innings but keep scoring at a decent enough rate for Dhoni to come out later and finish the game with aplomb as he usually does. Sadly, we left too much for too late for Dhoni to turn things around.
d. Reliance on historical data ignoring current evidence
Dhoni… Dhoni… Dhoni… that’s what the stadium chanted as the captain cool walked in to bat. Dhoni fans continued to believe in his super-human abilities to turn around our fortunes at any stage. Little did the team management or the fans recognize that the Dhoni of this World Cup is a far cry from his usual self. His work behind the stumps has been wanting and his scoring rate throughout the tournament has been meagre. His past glory, not his present form, made him a part of the team, and his poor form cost us when we hoped that he’d sail us through.
e. Playing favourites in resource planning
The question of who to take to the World Cup to who to play in the final 11 has haunted us right through the tournament. The fact that Rayadu was ignored in favour of 3D skills of Vijay Shankar, the fact that when the need arose to replace Shikhar, Vijay was played ahead of Rishabh despite Pant being called in as Dhawan’s replacement, the fact that Pant wasn’t originally taken to England because selectors and the captain wanted Dhoni in the team, all went on to ensure that favourites did not live up to their reputation and the worthy team members weren’t allowed to.
f. Paying the price for procrastination
Nothing demonstrates this better than the semi-final wherein Dhoni – despite having an able partner in Jadeja who was scoring at a brisk rate to try and not only cover the deficit but win the match – chose to play the waiting game scoring at an abysmal rate akin to the India vs England match (which also was lost largely because of painfully slow scoring rate), in the self-belief that he can play it slow for now as he has the ability to accelerate at will and win in the dying minutes of the match, as he normally does. We set ourselves for failure and got the only possible result.
g. Underestimation of the challenges and
unpreparedness
The New Zealand team, since time immemorial, has been a bits-n-pieces players team mostly. Sometimes, they have had great batsmen, great bowlers, great wicket-keepers and great fielders who have been the world’s best but, quite frankly, New Zealand has been “always the bridesmaid, never the bride” kind of team, who everyone is worried about but nobody really fears. India, in their supreme confidence, underestimated the strategic readiness & fierce determination of the underdog and ended up playing the ultimate price.
As is evident from the above, the importance of well-thought
strategy, detailed planning and actual performance cannot be undermined ever,
whether it is a cricket match or a corporate decision-making situation. Whether
it is about choosing absolutely the right resources for a particular job, or
about quick course-correction should things go wrong, a manager has to take quick
and bold decisions in the interest of the company goal rather than basing them
on what others would like or what he/she prefers. The above 7 are the few basic
things that every CEO, Department Head and Manager should always keep in mind
while planning growth of the organization.
© Shailesh Nigam
