The Magic of Cricket and its life lessons !

 This is the email I sent to my team in the aftermath of India's win at Brisbane:

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[Long read – choose to read it in leisure – not really work related 😊]

If you pass by an Indian or anyone with Indian lineage, just congratulate them – Team India had a magical win last night in test series (yes, this is the one, where one game lasts over 5d, with 6hrs/day) – against Australia *in* Australia, which was #1 ranked team. Most I know (in the US and WW) stayed up to watch the riveting game (till 1AM for me). Of course, there is a recency bias in here – this is being billed as the greatest test win and the 4-match series as the one of the most absorbing, if not the most, test series ever.

Why was it magical, consider this: (This was a four game test series):

1. India lost the first one at Adelaide – scoring 36 runs (as a team!! 😲 ) – it’s like the third lowest score in the ~150 years of history of cricket. The whole world/expected that after that display India will be rolled over for a 0-4 rout
2. Out of the 11, India’s first 8 players were unavailable – either rehabbing through injury or someone like our Captain (top 3 batsman/hitter in the world) had to return home on paternity leave
3. The bowlers (pitchers) were third team (practice squad), since the 2^nd team (back-ups) pitchers were hurt on tour. In the final and 4^th test match, the combined experience of Aussie bowlers had 1033 wickets (outs) amongst them, the Indian bowlers had ~4. This is like sending your 2^nd/3^rd team to play the World cup soccer against Germany/Brazil/Argentina
4. With this, INdia came back and won the 2^nd game making it 1-1, with an inspired display from the stand-in captain (scored a century)
5. The third game, we had an opportunity to win, but with 35 overs (6 pitches x 35) to go, one of the batsman tore his hamstring while running and the other bat tweaked his back – they settled for draw, blocking out very strong bowling by the Aussies.
6. In the 4^th and final test,
1. Everyone stood up – one of the mainstay in the batting – got hit 11 times in his body, including 3 pings to his head (w/ helmet)
2. At the EO of 4^th day, with India needing 328 to win on a pitch that had developed cracks (which means uneven bounce); with about 12 balls (pitches) to go, India won with 3 outs to spare!!

And consider this:

1. Australia has never lost in that ground (Brisbane) since 1988. They were the #1 team. They have #1 batsman and #1 bowler, in the world.
2. On the start of the final day, no one, no one – gave India a chance to win (including old timers like us). The Cricketers who stood up to be counted, were 21, 21, 22 and 33 year old.

To me there were some nice lessons I saw:

1. Trust the process, work the grass roots enablers – it is slow; but it is deliberate, but you’ll know you’ll arrive when the situation throws up
2. Build the bench strength, who will step-up; simulate real life situations for them (via the A and U-19 tours)
3. Right person for the right job – one of the legends of the Indian cricket, Dravid, chose to work with the India Junior/Under-19 teams, instead of gunning for high profile job. Everybody in this 2^nd and 3^rd team have come through that school
4. Let the team express themselves,but the buck stopped with the captain.
5. Blood youngsters and show them the outcome, they step up.