Cricket and the Corporate World!

I always went out searching for some motivation to write blogs and went out in space to think or let my mind blank to observe things! Today strangely my mind kept analyzing and repeating things which I do while working in office, when I was watching India –Pakistan cricket match and triggered me to write the blog.



1st March 2003

When all students were preparing for their 10th board exams, we were glued to TV to watch India- Pakistan match. My mom feared if India would lose, we would waste a day which we should be studying. She kept switching off the TV initially for few minutes and asked us to go study, but then she realized, we any way wouldn’t concentrateand let us watch. Those days we didn’t have mobile phones and internet connections to get the scores even without TV. Luckily India won and we ran out to buy ice creams to celebrate the winning!



30th March 2011

Wipro office seemed more like match ground than office. All cafeterias’ jam packed with people with big projectors screen with loud noise. The cafeteria hall was full even before the match began! I was in the third row with my team which was an all women's team. As the match started, we screamed and howled and soon it was 7 when all my team mates had gone. I wondered what to do. I didn’t have TV at home. Another colleague who was with his team mates waved and asked me to join them. I did and now I was standing on the table, jumping at the last overs and they watched as if I come from an alien world. One of the team mate asked widening his eyes “You follow match?” I rolled my eyes with a smile “only if it an India-Pakistan match.”




28th December 2012

People keep posting their FB updates and unlike 10 years back, we now had mobile phones, which could be used to check the scores and I had no board exams to worry about. I kept eating and every time, I felt India would lose, I ate .I kept checking the FB status and updates in every break and commentaries posted were liked at every interval!



I found things very similar to the how things work in the corporate world. I wondered every ball that a batsman had to face was new. Every challenge one faced in office was also new .As the batsman changed his strategies according to every ball; we did the same on daily basis. We changed strategies to meet the new challenges.



Two batsmen stand in minority in front the team bowling, yet there are times when they win while batting. One needs to understand that there are thousands out there in audience supporting, as against few whom they are facing in the field. We face similar situations in corporate world where the performer may be in minority in terms of number of people, staring at you to know how you can perform better. All one has to remind themselves is, ‘I have thousands of people working as my support system, though they may not be in field with me’.

There may be times when we play in home ground and the confidence could be better because of the motivation from the audience that one may get and vice versa. For the team which is not in home ground, they need to take the silence of the audience as motivation and go on! Well the same concept applies in corporate world in absence of support system. If others are quiet, understand that you are on the right path and keep going.

When the first team plays without the target, it is much easier for them to play without stress. But the goal always is there to play for twenty overs and give the best shot within that time limit or over limits! Then team which plays with the target score is at a stress. I feel the same is very much applicable in corporate world. Those who work under stress can never apply strategies properly. Set the mission and let them play without the targets is the best way. However that differs from roles and is subjective to talk about in terms of the corporate world.

Team work is something that we talk in both sports as well in corporate world. One thing which is common in both team works is, we first need to do our role the best, rather than just trying to see what others are doing.Every individual need to perform well to be a good performer in the team.

If one team wins, it’s definite for other to lose. All that we can say is “Shit happens” sorry I mean “It happens”. Winning or losing is a part and parcel of the game. And there is always a next time and we would do it better. Same thing happens in corporate world, if someone wins, there is someone who loses. And when someone loses, all they have to do is “Move on” as there would definitely be a next chance.

We shouldn’t feel proud when we win whether it is cricket or the corporate world, as you never know what could be the outcome in the next match. Whether we are in corporate world or in playground, confidence leads to success and over confidence leads to failure, because if success transfer can happen, so can the failure transfer happen.

As I was about to complete the blog , Rind Posh Maal started playing in my mobile and the lyrics “dosti ka saath chedo, dusmani ko bhool jao”,sets well with this context of cricket and corporate world and these matches have achieved it’ s goal –Entertainment! Entertainment and Entertainment!