Hello Friends,
How are you all? It's been a while since I posted an article. So here I am with yet another story from the cricketing world along with some extremely important leadership lessons out of it. It's a story of how sports could bring smile on the faces of people of a country going through a difficult phase. Let's start.
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| Image Credit: Fakenoodle, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons |
Recently concluded Asia Cup T20 cricket tournament has caught our attention not just because of the format but due to its highly competitive cricketing standards across all the teams. Earlier when the competition between the Asian giants used to be a 50 over format it would mostly end up in a three way hustle between India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. But these days T20 cricket has literally reduced that gap among all the teams resulting in a much more competitive tournament. Recently concluded edition was full of nail biting encounters with some extraordinary sportsmanship on display. The most interesting part was that the tournament was won by the Sri Lankan team who were never adjudged as a contender at the beginning of the tournament. In fact they had a torrid start to the tournament after loosing their opening game to Afghanistan. But after that it was a dream run for the islanders. They have shown the world what it takes to be a champion. They have made an attempt to bring smile on the faces of their countrymen specially when they need it the most. This victory is definitely going to boost their confidence on and off the field considering T20 World Cup is just around the corner where they again have to play the qualifiers. But how did this turnaround happen? How a team whose performance was going downwards consistently could change its fortunes suddenly? It's definitely not an overnight success. Let's have a detailed look on the factors that worked for the Dasun Shanaka led bunch.
First and foremost part of this victory belongs to their captain, coach and the entire team management who believed in a set of players and persisted with them for a longer period of time. Instead of regular changes they ensured that they keep backing the same bunch who can bring them outstanding results over a period of time. And the players didn't disappoint the team management either. Players like Hasaranga, Rajapaksa, Nissanka, Asalanka, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Mendis, Maheesh Theekshana have performed at crucial stages of the tournament to bring the team the ultimate glory. They might not have any superstars in the team any more like the days when they used to have big names like Muralitharan, Jayasuriya, Jayawardene, Sangakkara, Malinga. But they are definitely working towards building a team which can produce a new superstar in every game they play. Team spirit has been extremely high and that showed in their performance too.
Not to forget the role of their coach too. Chris Silverwood who joined the team as the Head coach this year has been instrumental in turning the fate of the team in a short period. He has been able to instill that self belief among all the players that they can win a game on their own on any given day. They have performed well in the home series against India and Australia too where they defeated India in the T20I series 2-1 and won the ODI series by a margin of 3-2 as well as drawn the test series with the scoreline of 1-1 against the Australians. It has been sheer hard work and collective effort that is bringing the results today for them. They have gone through extremely difficult phases on the field over the years when retirement of top players and lack of stable leadership has affected their performance big time. But it seems now they have overcome that phase and are ready to rewrite the history with some exceptional performances in the coming days.
Over the years Sri Lankan cricket has been led by big names like Arjuna Ranatunga, Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Angelo Matthews, Lasith Malinga. All of them had an extremely fruitful career as a player besides the success as a leader. Compared to them Dasun Shanaka, the current limited overs captain is definitely not a big name so far in the cricketing circle. He does not have that flamboyance of his counterparts. But he is extremely smart and calculative in his approach as a leader. His role in this success is enormous. He is someone who backs his players completely and leads from the front most often than not. He slotted himself playing the role of a finisher in the Asia Cup and played the role to utmost perfection. His cameo against India decided the fate of the match as well as the Indian team in the tournament. He is a leader who doesn't show his emotions on the field, but ensures that he can extract the best out of the team. Along with the coach he had a big role in building a core team which works towards the improvement in all the three parameters of the game. If their aggressive batting and calculative yet effective bowling has been a treat to watch, not to forget their extremely competitive fielding which has been a big differentiator in the recent past.
Overall if we consider, they have been extremely consistent with their process with a focus on getting the basics right all the time. No surprise they are getting the results of the same. This victory is even more sweet as it came at a time when the entire country is going through extreme turmoil. Hopefully this is just the beginning of the dominance once again that the island nation has shown over the years. If they continue improving the way they are doing now, they are definitely up for lot more success at the global stage in the coming days.
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