Leaders! Some
are born, some are made, wherein some succeeds long-time, some fail big-time.
After losing the
semis of Wills World cup 1996, the then captain Mohammad Azharuddin was asked to
hand-over the reign of captaincy to some other player. Considering the
performance in the gone season, the obvious choice in front of the team
management was Sachin Tendulkar. He was handed over the charge of Indian team
on August 28th, 1996 in a hope to bring back the team’s lost morale
due to the loss in the World Cup.
As
the year 1996 was touching down, the team’s performance went on to touch new
lows with every match.
Under Sachin’s captaincy, the team’s
performance was not turning out to be that impressive as expected. Though the
team managed to win the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and Titan Cup ODI matches under
Sachin’s leadership, Sachin as a batsman looked very rusty. It was said in
media and speculated critics that the pressure of captaincy has ruined and
impacted his game. He had started batting totally in different gear, got into
completely different mode wherein he seemed more cautious of his wicket being a
captain, additional responsibility. He was not the same free flowing run-getter
whom everyone knew before he became the captain. The aggression, the high powered
strokes, the focus lacked in his play. And that was the period when Indian team
was solely dependent on Sachin’s batting. It was said, “When Sachin bats well,
India wins.” Even his captaincy was not working and hence for the betterment of
the team, he decided to step down as a Captain and focus on his forte and try
to contribute to his team more efficiently.
And then we all know, came the year 1998
where he single-handedly won several matches for India. He was back in form.
The year went by and the next World cup
came in.
Except for Sachin’s performance, India
couldn’t do anything special in the cup. Indian captain Azhar bhai was dropped
again and Tendulkar was asked to recap the captain’s post for one more time.
However, there was no option but to accept the proposal as he was the only one
capable and deserving to handle the team due to his experience and mastermind.
“But
captainship was never in his destiny.”
Déjà vu! India lost many of the major
matches and series like the Tour down under where India was white washed 3-0 by
the 1999 World Champions Australia and also suffered a 0-2 Test series defeat
by South Africa on Indian soil, which raised number of questions against his
captaincy.
The player who has possibly made every
record also has a record of losing five tests in a row which is the highest
number for any Indian captain.
‘Why did the God of Cricket failed to
make his mark as a Captain?’ is the question to ponder upon.
Winning and Losing doesn’t depend upon
one particular individual, it’s a team effort which counts. The captain is one
who makes strategies and executes them on the field with the help of his
team-mates. He started off well to his tenure of captaincy with few wins under
his belt, thanks to the right balance of players in the team. The playing XI
consisted of great combination of players which gave the team invincible feel.
Due to disastrous performance in the 1999 world cup, many Indian players, who
played under the captaincy of Azharuddin, were axed by the selectors.
The
management adopted the rotating policy and dropped many key experience players
like Nayan Mongia, Venkatesh Prasad, Navjot Singh Siddhu etc, making way for
youngsters. Even captain was not involved in this decision. In his second
tenure, the captain Sachin was not satisfied with the teams balance. Due to
absence of many key players the performance of the team hampered in the year
1999. And it’s obvious that when the pressure of one thing starts building up,
it takes upon and ruins the other things. Same happened with Sachin. The
pressure of captaincy came on his batting which lowered his performance and
hence the decision of stepping down as a Captain was taken.
After reading this, what do you think?
Was he a competent captain or not? It would be unfair to point finger at
Sachin’s captaincy for team’s loss claiming that it was his mistake only. Bad
captaincy meaning bad execution of plans and the execution depends upon the
players, so how the captain alone is responsible for loss. When a team wins, it’s
a team victory but when it losses, its captain’s fault. Not fair…Not fair. As I
said earlier, a team’s success or failure doesn’t depend upon any single
individual but it’s a team effort which counts.
Most of the times in his career, Sachin
has performed effectively. Now what do you mean by effective performance.
Proper knowledge, skills and positive attitude sum up to give an effective
performance. Many people have knowledge, but they don’t apply it skillfully
which doesn’t do any good. There are also people who in spite of lack of
knowledge deliver their skills to the best, which is also not sufficient. And
the fun part is that even though many people possess both the factors of
knowledge and skills, they don’t have the right attitude towards their doings
which also works against them. So the combination of all this three qualities
is must. The team believes in and wants effective performance, and for last two
decades Sachin has been giving an effective performance which makes him unique
and indomitable.
The failure of Captain implies the team
broke down as a whole which didn’t perform to it's best skills. I am sure that
he could have made the difference to the team with his captaincy but nothing
went his way that time and unfortunately he had to withdraw. Mind you, he has
that power of captaining a side and taking them to victory with his witty and
experience mind. You must have seen the performance of Mumbai Indians side
during IPL 3 and other seasons under Sachin’s captaincy. Outstanding is the
word!
But again the luck factor comes into play
here which has power to ruin the strong going for anyone, anytime. Even after
playing so well, the Sachin led Mumbai Indians side failed to conquer the IPL
title. They did won the Champions League last year but it was under Harbhajan
Singh’s captaincy. How cruel this game can be. Sachin did his job to get in the
best combination for Mumbai team and impart the positive energy in them, but
when the team won, he was not the part of the team. And now this year, I won’t
be surprised to see the Mumbai Indians team lifting the IPL trophy also under
Bhajji’s captaincy. That’s luck for you.
At last, I can only say that it’s all
destined, no one can deny it.
Even after trying his best, Sachin couldn’t
make it happen for the team.
In the year 2000, the captaincy was
handed over to Saurav Ganguly, our own Dada, who in true sense gave the team 'never to give up' spirit and thereupon the Team India of excellence was formed.
Even if Sachin now is not the head of the
team, he has always remained a vital part of team’s various strategy talks and
meetings. He has always been there and guided his fellow captains in need.
Right from Dada, then Jammy and now to our current skipper MSD, he is always
there to share his experience and give his valuable input in some way or the
other.
Clearly, it conveys ‘Successful
Leadership comes with the combination of good, confident team under your belt
and some kind of godly luck which decides the fate for sure.’
With a right blend of these elements, you
can emerge as a great leader, be it any field. No one can stop you.
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