Corporate Leadership: My all-time captain: Sourav Ganguly

Sourav Chandidas Ganguly was made the captain of Indian cricket team in 2000, when Indian cricket was going through its most turbulent phase. The match-fixing scandal had left an indelible imprint on Indian cricket with some prominent players being banned from the game. In addition to this, the team had lost a rare test series at home and the morale of the team was at its lowest. Also, India's cricketing icon, Sachin Tendulkar declined the captaincy. By default, the captaincy came to Ganguly who then transformed the meek Indian Cricket team to one of the aggressive teams in the world.

The Man Who Changed the Face of INDIAN CRICKET

LEADERSHIP CHARACTERISTICS

STRONG LEADER

Sourav is an example of an outstanding leader who was willing to take strong hard stands and being gutsy during hard times. He challenged his superiors (Selectors) for the right cause towards development of team by getting players he thought who would add value to the team rather than go by the whims of selectors. He produced many match winners of today like Virendra Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh, and Harbhajan Singh and so on.

Yuvraj Singh on Sourav Ganguly: “I can die for this captain”

Sachin Tendulkar on Sourav Ganguly: "The best captain I have played under"

Sourav Ganguly - Master of Mind Games:

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

He as a captain always believed in replying on the face and responding in an appropriate fashion. Again, the prime example of this is his waving of the shirt violently from the balcony of Lords in 2002 to Andrew Flintoff. 

VISIONARY

His vision was to win the world cup for India and indeed came very very close to win one after a gap on 20 years.

SACRIFICE FOR TEAM'S SAKE

He demoted himself; to make the space for the opening slot to accommodate Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar. Ganguly will be remembered as most successful captain for having forged a winning unit from a bunch of young talented players.

                 

This Sacrifice by Ganguly did produce one of the most aggressive opening pairs for India. It also helped us to reach the final of World Cup 2003.

RESPECTED BY RIVALS/OPPONENTS

Sourav Ganguly is one of rare leaders who were appreciated and regarded as one of the most successful captain for India.Though Ganguly irked Steve Waugh during the toss for a match, Steve Waugh regards Ganguly as one of the best captains that India could ever have. He was also treated with high regard/respect by rival captains.

EXCELLENT MANAGER

Sourav managed his team well and backed number of young players in the team. He backed Virendra sehwag during his initial matches and promoted him as one of best top order batsmen in the world. So is the development with careers of Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh notably.

In one of matches against South Africa, he knew that his bowlers are not in good touch and there were two aggressive batsmen on the crease. Though they required 8 runs from the last over, he bowled that over despite having not bowled any overs previously. India lost that match; he took the blame for the loss rather than passing it on to his trusted bowlers. He always took blame for the loss and passed the credit for the victory to his team.

TEAM MANAGEMENT

         Words such as ‘groups’ and ‘camps’ have vanished from the dressing room. That is when we saw the “Team India”. He is very influential and built the team India like never before. He was impartial, non-parochial and pushed his players to perform better. His interactions with media, fans, and detractors were uncompromisingly honest.

MOTIVATOR

Sourav Ganguly had been constantly motivating his team members to perform better and better in every matches. When he took the responsibility of being a leader, the team had no match winners. He motivated lot of young players who came into the side and he produced lot of match winners that Indian team had.

Harbhajan Singh on Sourav Ganguly:

Virendra Sehwag on Sourav Ganguly:

Anil Kumble on Sourav Ganguly:

UNABATED OPTIMISM 

Sourav Ganguly was credited for bringing optimistic vision to Indian team. He felt that India could achieve better success in International cricket. It was under his captaincy; India started winning test matches in Australia, Pakistan, England and other test playing countries. The strength and most aspiring point of Ganguly is his firmness to the goal decided to achieve. His never ending wining spirit, dedication to work always motivated the Indian team.

PERSEVERANCE

Many thought that when Ganguly was sacked from the captaincy in 2005, that was his end of the career. But he didn't quit and kept playing domestic games to prove his form. He then made remarkable comebacks in ODI against West Indies by scoring 98 and in TEST against South Africa by scoring the highest runs for India. This perseverance reflects his tough mentality rather than giving up himself. 

Sourav Ganguly Interview During His Come Back:

Sachin Tendulkar on Sourav Ganguly:

PASSION TO PROFESSION

No body can deny that Sourav Ganguly was more passionate about cricket which is evident from the fact that he is a commentator now and expressed his interest to coach India in the future. 

Rahul Dravid on Sourav Ganguly: 

“Ganguly had a passion for the job. He had a desire to win. He was willing to do whatever it took to win."

Sourav Ganguly has demonstrated some very important qualities of corporate leader. He has shown how to build a team, manage a team and succeed at home and overseas. He demonstrated the importance of getting the best resources and talent; motivating them to emerge as competitive player.