In Search of Excellence

Indian cricket team just won test series in England. This was done by collective team-effort and without a coach. So after the debacle in the world cup, the team seems to have improved for the better. But Indian cricket team does this often: loose badly, then win a little.

Why does not the Indian team win consistently? I came across an article about the ‘Center of Excellence’ run by Cricket Australia. After reading the article I am actually wondering how does the Indian Cricket team manage to win even a single match?

Here is the article:

http://www.livemint.com/2007/08/17235811/Stay-on-the-edge-by-looking-fo.html

Let’s look at BCCI. Indian team does not have a coach right now. BCI does not believe in technology (not even a laptop). Players are selected based on the regional quotas not on performance. Many members (if not all) of the selection committee have not even played a single international game.

Now look at Cricket Australia, they are running a ‘Center of Excellence’.  They have 5-6 people doing research on “How to reduce injuries’ and ‘How to improve performance’. these guys first found out that if 2 fielders run after a ball there is a possibility that a run can be saved as one fielder can pick up and scoop the ball to the second fielder who in turn will relay it back to the wicket keeper. They are now working on creating a vertual warm-up machine where the batsmen can face the rival team’s bowlers before facing them for real.

 Winning in sport (or in any field for that matter) is about living on the edge and constantly pushing the envelope. Winning as a team requires good processes, practise routines, use of technology to help every member of the team improve.

The Indian team wins because of one or two extra ordinary contributions instead of team efforts. BCCI certainly has nothing to do with it.

Milind