“Trendsetters” that have changed cricket

I was going through my childhood collections of stamps, comics and other “trash” which my father ordered away from his house to be moved immediately to my residence else be prepared for it to be thrown out! One of my favourite hobbies was a scrapbook of pictures of cricket matches and players’ pictures from newspapers and magazines of the 1980`s. As I rummaged through my collection which had pictures of my favourites like Kapil Dev, Sunny Gavaskar, Wasim Akram, Denis Lillee, David Gower and many more, I was forced to think how much the game of cricket has changed since the 1980`s when the West Indians were the champs and Channel Nine was the best broadcasting station.

As far as I can remember, a few “trendsetters” have changed the game of cricket over the last 30 years which I am inclined to discuss.

1)    Advent of limited overs game

A single one day game from a washed away Test Match, between Australia and England in 1971, changed the face of cricket. One dayers made the game more exciting, quicker and spectator friendly as compared to Test cricket. Rather than spending 5 days watching a game with a high probability of no result, people lapped up the one dayers with great spirits. Cricket was probably the only game with no world championship till 1975 when the first one day world cup was played in England. One dayers also lifted the standards of the game especially in fielding and power hitting. Some players who were good fielders, unorthodox but quick scorers got the nod to play and not in tests. Krish Srikkanth used to play in one dayers before he became a permanent player in the Test side over players like Anshuman Gaekwad and GR Vishwanath. One dayers also forced many test specialists to modify their game to suit to one dayers. A great example is the Indian maestro Sunny Gavaskar who once scored 36 runs in 60 overs but adjusted to the one dayers beautifully. Fitness levels also went up due to the fast paced nature of the game. The advent of one dayers naturally had a reverse effect on Test Cricket wherein teams started playing more positively to win rather than draw matches by scoring faster, fielding more athletically and better players` fitness.

Teams initially used one dayers as a practice for Test matches and hence the same team composition was used for both one dayers and Tests. With the increase in number of one dayers, more specialization came in and teams started using different players for different formats. One days specialists like Michael Bevan and Ajay Jadeja, who otherwise were not regulars in Tests, were regulars in one day sides due to their quick scoring and fielding.

2)    Kerry Packer`s circus

Kerry Packer threw the entire cricket world in a tizzy in 1977 by making most of the leading players sign up for his “pyjama cricket circus”. He also revolutionized the game by introducing coloured clothing, night cricket and multiple TV cameras with Channel Nine broadcasting. One dayers got more glamorous and hence more viewership and better pay for the players. The Kerry Packer circus also meant that for the first time players could stand up to the cricket administrators and demand their pound of flesh.

3)    Shift of global power centre to India

World cricket administration was dominated by England and Australia ever since the advent of cricket. Since the mid 90`s the BCCI has marketed the game beautifully in India such that that India now generates 75% of the global cricket revenues. Shrewd administrators like Jagmohan Dalmiya, IS Bindra and of course the marketing whiz kid Lalit Modi, who started IPL, cashed in on the huge popularity of cricket in India and built up a big commercial value to cricket. The shift to India made cricket a huge commercial venture like EPL and NBA.

4)    Advent of T20 and IPL

After one dayers and commercialization of one day cricket, the next biggest trendsetter has been T20 cricket which was furthered by the launch of IPL in India and similar leagues across the world. Cricket matches became quick and short like football matches. One could watch a match in the evening for about 3 hours like watching a football game. Shorter matches meant more matches and hence more teams and hence more players. India`s win in the inaugural T20 word cup in 2007 helped launch the IPL which has proved to be one of the biggest disruptive innovations in cricket after the Kerry Packer series. Players got more exposure and cricketers from all over the place, especially from B / C cities in India, started coming up like Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, etc.

5)    Improvement in Governance & corporatization of cricket

In the 1970`s and 80`s, many visiting teams used to complain about the bias of the home umpires. The English media used to cry hoarse whenever the Aussies used to win against England and Indians used to complain about the “first class umpiring” of the Pakistani umpires. Apart from the usual complaint about lbw decisions there was also lots of hue and cry about line decisions for run outs. The 1989 Indo-Pak series saw the advent of neutral umpires and the third eye camera was introduced in the inaugural India – South Africa series in 1992. Except for some heavy bloopers, like Steve Bucknor`s umpiring in the infamous 2008 Sydney test, umpiring errors reduced. With the formation of the elite list of umpires, captain`s feedback, better pay and with technological assistance, umpiring standards improved dramatically which was a great ecosystem for the game.

The improvement in other governance norms also helped. Teams were fined or docked for slow over rates, bad behaviour was disciplined with proper hearings, quality of pitches and stadiums were monitored and proper contracts were handed to players. All these improvements ensured a fair playing ground for all teams by reducing the biases.

What are the future “trendsetters”?

I am inclined to wonder what can be future trendsetters for the game of cricket. I can think of a couple of them.

a) Globalization of cricket

Cricket is mainly played by 8-9 countries out of which the top countries add up to 5 -6. Development of the game in other countries and upgrading their quality will bring in more competition and a wider reach. The ICC needs to work on the non –Test playing nations to upgrade them first.

b) Change in one day formats  

One dayers are getting squeezed between the Tests and T20`s and in many ways is getting too stereo typed. Sachin Tendulkar had once suggested switching to 2 innings of 25 overs each per team to make the game more interesting. Even though rejected by the ICC, this proposal if implemented can change the course of one dayers and make it more exciting.

As is my usual habit I leave a question behind. Are there any more “trendsetters” for cricket? 

Management Lessons from football

The world cup football in Brazil is in flow. The entire world is glued to the tournament with an estimated 4 billion people watching the games globally. Even in disadvantaged time zones, like in Asia Pacific, the viewing ratings have been phenomenal. India, despite matches starting at 21.30, 00.30 and 3.30 hrs. has also joined the wave with viewing ratings supposedly higher than many cricket matches. Bleary eyed people, me included, in offices are very common. The world cup hockey, French Open and Wimbledon tennis hardy gets any visibility in the news channels, coffee and pub discussions. Hot topics are the elimination of Spain and England, end of an era in Spanish football, the exciting play of the Dutch and South Americans, the WAG`s, off field activities of different teams, the revolt against the FIFA president Sepp Blatter and Qatar`s successful bid for the 2022 world cup.

As a business manager, I tried to switch my caps as a manager and as a football player and fan to think as to what we can learn from this wave called football especially the from huge tsunami wave called “FIFA world cup” which blows away everybody for almost a month.

I have tried to list some of the lessons below:

1) KISS for global reach  

Keep It Simple Stupid! The FIFA has 209 members and football is the most played and watched game globally. No sport comes near football in terms of popularity. The main reason is that the game basically has a very simple process. Get a ball, a few people and start kicking the ball in a small space to play the game. Compared with other sports like cricket, basketball, hockey, etc. which needs a lot of equipment and bigger space to play, football can be played in a small street corner as well. This explains the emergence of players from poor and downtrodden societies in many impoverished nations especially Brazil and Argentina. The stories of Pele and Maradona, who rose from poor families to become legends, is attributable to the simplicity of the game.

Secondly the game is short and sweet. You just need 90min to finish a game and hence is a spectator`s delight. Thus the sport has a wide reach to all strata of the global society.

2) Customer is the king

The main market for football viewing is in Europe and hence the locations and match timings are adjusted to suit the viewers in Europe. In 1986, even Diego Maradona`s protest against the noon start of the matches in the Mexican heat, fell on deaf ears so as to please the European viewers.

3) No strategy is eternally sustainable

The tiki- taka style of the Spanish made them an almost unbeatable team for the last 6years. They did not bring more innovations to their game and were probably under the pretence that their style was almost unbeatable. However in the last one year or so many opposition coaches have been able to find loopholes in their play. It started with in the Champions league last year and culminated in the Spaniards being thoroughly thrashed in the present world cup.

An another interesting aspect is that over the last 30 years, with the exception of Brazil, the defending champions haven’t performed well in the next edition of the world cup. 1982 & 1986 winners Italy and Argentina respectively managed to scrap though to the pre-quarters and finals in the next editions, France lost in round -1 in 2002, Italy again losing badly in 2010 and of course Spain being humiliated in 2014 edition. The Brazilians, with their flamboyant and innovative style have managed to buck the trend on a whole except for their loss in quarters in 2006.     

4) Superstars alone cannot win matches

Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo are superstars in the European leagues and accomplished players in league football. However when it comes to their performances with their respective countries in the world cup it is way below their normal levels. Rooney scored his first goal in 3 appearances only in the 2014 world cup. Ronaldo is marked by opposition teams and if his teammates don’t support him, unlike the Real Madrid team, he is rendered ineffective. Without the support of the other team members in feeding them the passes and a highly supportive coach the superstars’ performances are way below the expectations. Even legends like Pele had supportive teammates like Jairzinho, Garrincha, Torres, Tostao, etc. while Maradona had players like Burruchaga, Cannigia, etc., for support. The classical theory of an organization is that it is a portfolio of activities and similarly the success of a football team depends upon the collective effectiveness of various players on the field.

5) Youngsters rule. Persist with non performing old guard at your own peril.

Football is an high energy game and requires an extraordinary level of stamina and hence players are their peak in their 20`s. Only goal keepers can scale the peak capability levels till their 30`s. Teams need to have a constant pipeline of young players to survive. As Spain discovered, with their key players over 30, their players were jaded and tired and exposed. Many teams refuse to accept this reality and persist with their ageing superstars like Spaniards in the present world cup, Italians in the 2010 world and Brazil in the 2006 world cup. Past performance of these aged superstars is no guarantee for future performances.

6) Survival of the fittest

In some sports like cricket, teams can give a player an extended time and hide them in the team which is not possible in football. Given the high intensity and a focused time limit of 90 minutes all the players on the football field have to be 100% fit else they and the team will be thoroughly exposed. Players either shape up or kicked out.

7) Adoption of technology is inevitable

Despite many howlers of decisions on the missed line goals, FIFA was adamant on not using any technology till the push came to the shove. Many teams would have felt cheated on un-allowed goals due to the lack of technology in the previous tournaments. Adoption of technology will reduce the pressure on the referees and make the game better and fair.

To summarize, I am sure there are many more lessons to be learnt from football and other sports. Many organizations encourage team games to judge and build team building skills in their employees. Probably there might be a correlation that people involved in team sports from an early age become better team managers!

Meanwhile enjoy the World Cup! Adios!

India at the edge of dramatic change in political governance

 

The election results are out and what a victory! After about 2 decades of coalition politics, we have government with the leading party, BJP, having a majority by itself. The Congress party, the next largest party, has been decimated to less than 10% of the seats. Regional satraps have been side-lined if not cut to less than their original sizes. Hence this leads to the question whether “India is at the edge of dramatic change in political governance?”

Let’s look at some major trends from the 2014 elections:

a)     End of dynasty rule - The Congress party has been decimated to less than 50 seats and officially it cannot lay claim to the status of the opposition party. The vote against the Congress has essentially been a vote against the Gandhi family. Sonia and Rahul held the real power of the UPA government and had a hand in all the decisions and probably the scams too. The Gandhi – Nehru family right from Indira, Rajiv to Sonia / Rahul have ruled the country as their fiefdom. By adopting a neo- socialist approach to appeal to the mass vote banks they have won elections but hampered the growth of the country. Populist and unproductive themes like “Garibi Hatao” MNREGA. Food Security Bill, etc. have drained the exchequer with very little benefits. The basic objective was to keep the voters occupied with populist ideas but with no development. With the present election results, I am sure that most of the Indians, including many Congress members, also have seen the futility and limited utility of the “Nehru - Gandhi” name. Governance norms basically aim to avoid excessive power in a particular individual. The heavy defeat in the elections will hopefully ensure limited role for the Nehru - Gandhi family in the future.

b)    Winning platform of development and governance - Narendra Modi and the BJP fought the elections mainly on the plank of development and governance. It’s probably for the first time in the history of independent India that the winner has won on a plank mainly focussing on development and not on petty issues like caste, religion, etc. The people of the country, fed up with the dithering UPA government, the narrow petty minded parties like Communists, SP, BSP, etc. have given a resounding verdict for development. This verdict will hopefully ensure that development and governance will be the core features of all future political movements.

c)      Rise of new parties with a fresh perspective - Even though the AAP has won only 4 seats in the general elections, it has made its presence felt in many constituencies. In Delhi, AAP was placed second in all the seats and had a 32% vote share. In Varanasi, Arvind Kejriwal was placed second giving a good fight to Modi while Ashutosh was placed second in Chandni Chowk ahead of a heavyweight like Kapil Sibal. Even though AAP made a fool of itself in the Delhi Government, their plank of anti-corruption has caught the people`s eye. The people are prepared to look at a fresh approach breaking away from the dogmas of the past.

d)     Use of NOTA - The introduction of NOTA (none of the above candidates) garnered 1% of the votes i.e. about 6 lac votes. Infact in Nilgiris constituency where the corruption tainted former telecom minister A Raja stood, the 3^rd largest vote share, about 5% of the votes, was for NOTA. The message for the political parties is very clear – perform and nominate suitable candidates else, the people will not be constrained by the lack of choices in voting.

e)     Change in outlook of regional parties - Only 2 independent regional parties performed well viz. AIADMK in Tamil Nadu and TMC in Bengal. The AIADMK was benefited by scams, misrule and the infighting in the DMK while the TMC benefited by the declining fortunes of the Communists. Everybody is aware of the fact that the TMC hasn`t done anything in Bengal since it assumed power but yet got the votes shifting from the Communists. If TMC doesn`t shape up then the day isn`t far when the BJP or any other party with a development agenda will take over and similar is the case for the AIADMK. Without development the people will judge them very harshly. The other strong regional parties like SP, BSP, YSRCongress, have their political vote bases in some clusters. However they have been exposed to shifts in their political bases in cases of non – governance. A good example is the shift of some Muslim votes away from SP after Muzzafarnagar riots. Hence the message for regional parties is join the bandwagon for development lest be run over by others.

f)      Development over ideology – The 2014 election have shown that parties with ideology and no development agenda are relics of the past. The Communists are in the danger of getting extinct due to their dogmatic approach. To a large extent, Rahul Gandhi also didn`t have any concrete development agenda and his talk on ideological principles, as he mentioned in his famous interview on Times Now, actually hastened his defeat.

The 2014 election is a major milestone in the history of India. Hopefully, the verdict will move the country to a platform of development and governance uncluttered by narrow and petty considerations like caste, religion, etc.

Narendra Modi, the man who has a track record of development and governance in Gujarat, carries the hopes of all Indians as a leader who can lead India to a new world. The people, old and young, have given him a landslide victory to lead India. Let’s see whether “Acche Din Aane wale hain (Good days are about to come)!”

 

The new look India cricket team – are we being too harsh?

Quite a lot has been made of the new look Indian team, their performances of late and of course the leadership of MS Dhoni. India has been losing matches sometimes badly and importantly very close matches as we saw in the Asia cup recently. The most irritating aspect has been that India hasn`t managed to win Test matches from winning positions as we saw in South Africa and New Zealand. Many pundits, like ex- captain Sourav Ganguly, have put a significant part of the blame on Dhoni`s captaincy and his defensive tactics. Dhoni is a product of the one day school of cricket and hence it is futile to expect him to be an attacking captain like Sourav. However, it was under the leadership of Dhoni and Kirsten that India was winning matches across the world. Can the blame be put on Duncan Fletcher or the Indian team? Fletcher I don`t know but let us look at the Indian team. Can the new look Indian team be blamed for the losses? Unfair I would say.

I am inclined to look at the team of early 2000`s, under Sourav`s leadership, which proved we can win abroad in alien conditions. Like the present Indian team, the seeds of 2000`s team was laid in second half of 1990`s which saw the advent of people like Dravid, Ganguly and Laxman. These people joined the likes of Tendulkar and Kumble and joined later by people like Sehwag. In late 1990`s the Indian team was seen as a team with potential but failed to win many matches. Be it the South African tour in 1997, world cup of 1999, Oz tour of 2000, the team was not very successful. However the seeds for a successful team were laid during this period. We saw some outstanding performances by the stars who formed the nucleus of the 2000`s team like Dravid`s century in 1997 South African team, Sourav`s performances as an opener in one dayers, Kumble`s 10 wicket haul. Probably Sachin Tendulkar was the only consistent star performer during this period. Infact, Laxman established himself only after the stupendous Kolkotta effort in the Oz series of 2001 despite making his debut in 1997.

If history were to repeat itself, I would recommend giving the new look Indian team some more time. Kohli has started becoming consistent now along with Pujara. Dhawan and Rohit have just made their debuts about a year back along with Rahane. In addition, these players have got more international exposure as compared to the 2000`s team due to IPL. A couple of good overseas tours will certainly help them play better in hostile overseas conditions. The new look bowling attack of Shami and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar are taking strides for becoming good bowlers and hopefully will do so under the tutelage of Zaheer Khan.

The major problematic area seems to be Fletcher`s coaching abilities. There has been a drastic change in fortunes since he took over. Yes, the team was going a transition phase after he took over, however his role in the value chain of the Indian team needs to be thoroughly looked into. His combination with Dhoni vis a vis Dhoni`s combination with Kirsten needs to be looked into to resolve the loopholes well before the world cup in 2015. However unlike the performances of players, the decisions on the captain and coach are taken by the bigwigs of BCCI whose working is anything but logical and transparent. Let’s hope for the best !

In a gist I`am looking forward the developments of the new Indian team.

The new International Cricket Council (ICC) – is it a boon or a curse for cricket?

The changes in the International Cricket Council (ICC) have been announced and the 3 main members now namely India, England and Australia have taken lots of efforts to explain that the changes are in the benefit for one and all. If the definition of “benefit” is more revenues to the 3 members then they are absolutely right. However, the main question to be asked is whether these changes for the benefit of the game?

Let’s look at some of the key changes:

1.  The revenues of the ICC are to be split-up in the ratio of the individual nations revenues generated.

2.  The proposed Test championship has been scrapped. Hence the original form of cricket i.e. Test cricket is being overlooked.

3.  One day Champions Trophy is being revived again. Thanks to India winning the last edition and hence one day championships are better.

4.  The Future Tours Program, which tried to ensure a fair and equitable number of matches for all Test playing nations, has been given a silent burial and in the new system the individual nations have to negotiate with each other.

What will this lead to? The ICC has become a big boys club with the top 3 members as bullies. Firstly, the 3 main members will have a bigger share of the matches to be played. Secondly, the financially weaker nations like West Indies and Bangladesh will get a lesser share of the matches. Thirdly, revenues seem to be main driver for ICC with no efforts being made to promote Test Cricket. Fourthly, no effort is being made to widen the nations playing cricket or to upgrade the standards of the game in the associate members.

In the last 30 years, the only nation which has graduated from a pushover to a world beater is Sri Lanka. Zimbabwe was predicted to make the grade but they have not. Bangladesh, despite Test status, still looks like a club cricket side. For very long we have seen countries like Ireland, Holland, Nepal, Kenya, etc showing flashes of brilliance but couldn`t sustain the momentum.

The changes in the ICC will lead to the following results which is not surprising. The top 3 members, especially BCCI, will get richer. Test Cricket will continue to languish at the present levels, if not worse. The cricket playing countries will remain an exclusive and Commonwealth club. Thankfully as long as it does so, India will be in the top 2 or 3 and we claim to be world class in at least one sport!

Aam Aadmi Party`s governance agenda- will it succeed?

The “Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)” revolution led by Arvind Kejriwal has caught the attention of the entire country so much so that the onetime poster boy of the media – Narendra Modi- has been swept off the media pedestal. As per the AAP spokesperson Yogendra Yadav, people have voted for AAP for 3 reasons viz. clean politics, good governance and anti- corruption. Very true! Narendra Modi`s agenda has included these 2 themes along with economic development as a part of his election campaign. Arvind Kejriwal is being touted as the 3<sup>rd</sup> alternative for the Prime Minister`s post so much that a national newspaper has reported today that Modi has pressed the panic button fearing the AAP wave.

What does the country need now? Given the precarious economic scenario that we find ourselves in, economic development is very important for our country. Our GDP growth rate has fallen to sub – 5% levels from the 9% levels we were in a few years back. However, the country has been severely shaken by the numerous corruption scandals in the last few years and historically corruption has been rampant in this country ever since our independence. Hence governance and anti –corruption plank have also become equally extremely important and has caught the imagination of the people especially the middle and upper class that are fed up with the 2 big national parties.

A research paper “Is good governance good for development[1]?” argues that good governance is not a necessary precondition for development. The research paper lists some obstacles mainly the different political characters of various nations. The western nations saw a surge in their economic development in the 18^th and 19^th centuries when the term governance was unheard of. In the last few decades we have seen the rise of China and some other East Asian countries that would rank not very high on the governance matrices.

So what is important now- 

• Governance or economic development? 
• Is governance required for economic development? 

My answer would be yes. Good governance is a good supporting factor for sustainable economic development and possibly to convert economic miracles to sustainable development. The presence of proper institutions like judiciary, legislature and executive machinery is important to deliver the benefit to the people and avoid issues like corruption, inefficient allocation of resources, etc. A well-developed banking and financial system can lead to financial inclusion. Speeding up of judicial activities can ensure protection of ordinary citizens and protection of industrial interests.

For a sustainable and balanced growth of the country it is therefore necessary that economic development goes hand in hand with good governance. Given the size and political status of India, it is imperative that we have do not have a governance less development like the Middle East and some African nations and neither should governance impede development as still a sizeable population is below the poverty level. Singapore can be quoted as a good example of a “proper” balance of governance and development. While many critics can describe Singapore as prison state, the government under the tutelage of the previous premier Lew Kuan Yuew has developed Singapore to be a model of economic prosperity and a toast of the world. People are willing to let go some freedom for economic prosperity.

The Delhi AAP government of Arvind Kejriwal has taken 2 sets of decisions since taking power in late December`13 viz. governance decisions like anti-corruption telephone line and audit of power discoms and on the other hand populist measures like power subsidy and free water. The populist measures smack of “Leftist” thinking which has long been rejected by people. In fact the communist parties are being threatened with the advent of AAP!

Hence Arvind Kejriwal and his AAP team members should probably work on the following paths:

1.The focus on governance is what the country needs and people would love to see the same being institutionalized. Hence the AAP should implement measures and systems to make governance a way of life. Some of them would be institutionalizing the Lokpal bill, ensure proper law and order, regular availability of metered and billed power and water, improve efficiency of government services and last but not the least infrastructure. This in turn would help the economy as well. This will not happen overnight but a proper process can be put in place to do this. One way, which has been initiated, is to form teams with professionals (true aam aadmis!).

2. AAP should not be seen as anti- business and hence should avoid socialist  leanings like the Congress. An anti- business stance will hit the economic  development and can prove counterproductive.

3. Populist measures, especially subsidies need to be avoided as these are  truly anti proper governance.

To conclude, I would sincerely hope that the Aam Aadmi Party truly becomes a mainstream political party and cleans up the entire Indian system and in the process ensure an all-round development of India. All the best AAP !!

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[1] Kwame Sundurama, Jwame and Choudhry.  United Nations Series on Development.