‘Everyone’s different…’: What Sourav Ganguly learnt from Virender Sehwag about leadership with NatWest series victory | Cricket News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: It was on July 13, 2002 when Sourav Ganguly and his young team won the NatWest Trophy final against England, chasing down a steep target of 326 with three balls to spare at the famed Lord’s cricket ground.
Chasing 325, Virender Sehwag smashed a 49-ball 45, while Ganguly hit a 43-ball 60 in an opening stand of 106 in 14.3 overs.
Now a video is doing the rounds on the internet, where Ganguly is addressing a small gathering at Lord’s telling what he learned about leadership from his opening partner Virender Sehwag that day and how he became a better captain after the NatWest series win.
Ganguly says, “I’ll tell you a story here, for me that was a very important part of leadership and I spoke to you about man management. It was Sehwag batting with me in the middle. We were chasing that night – 320 where I took my shirt off and I was very upset at lunch because England got 300-325 and in those days, this was about 2002, you very rarely chased 325, it was not like modern day cricket where you just keep hitting. The game has changed a lot.”
Ganguly continues, “So I walking down this long room at Lord’s and Sehwag was whistling behind me , he is that sort of a person, I turned back, abused him and said ‘ek toh 325 bana dete ho and you think it’s a joke’. He walks past me and said. ‘skip we’re going to win this’. I said ‘let’s see’. So we went, we started very well, both of us. After 7 overs, we were about 70 for no loss. I was batting on 40 odd and Sehwag was also batting. So Ronnie Irani was bowling and I went up to Viru and said we’ve got a good start, I think we can get this total but don’t get out. We’ve played the harder bowlers, there’s a weaker bowler coming in, let’s just keep taking 6-7 runs an over because that’s what we need. He said ‘yeah, yeah fine no problem.’ So Ronnie runs up from this end, he hits the first ball over mid-off for four. So I was at the non-striker’s end I went up to him, tapped and said ‘good shot, so we’ve got 4 runs in the over, just keep rotating (the strike). He said ‘yes yes no problem’. So he goes back to his end, the next ball Ronnie pitches it up, he hits it over the top over mid-on, one bounce four. So I again go up to him and said well played, well played, good shot, we’ve got 8, you can still take singles. He said ‘yes, no problem, singles’. The next ball, Ronnie Irani pitches it up, he sits down and sweeps, right from the middle stump, it could have hit his pad, he was gone, it went for four, I did not go up to him. He did not even look at me because he understood. So he turned his face, took guard and batted again. The next ball he again hit him over covers for a four. So on five balls he hit five boundaries. And on the sixth ball he took a single and as he walking past me he said ‘I’ve taken a single’. And this is happening in the middle, we got 22 runs that over, he smashed him, he was so good. I was furious at the other end because he did not listen to me.”
Ganguly adds, “I had two options, either I walk up in the middle and give him my piece of mind. So I took a couple of minutes, pulled myself back and I want up to him and said keep concentrating. I didn’t tell him anything from thereon, he played an absolute blinder of a knock and we won. We finished the game, we won, and as I sat in this dressing room upstairs, he was sitting slightly far away from me, I kept thinking to myself, I said you know today you won this game because this gentleman at the other end just took the opposition bowler on. And what were you thinking of telling him? That be conservative, take a single, go to the next over, but he was one person who felt that he could hit him for 20 in that over and turned the game around. And I say this to all of you here because sometimes as a leader, when you work with different people, you have your own way of doing things. You have your own way of being successful and go and tell him, ‘hey this is the way I think it’s right, let’s do it and we’ll win that way. But there’s this other person who’s more talented, who’s more gifted, who looks at things differently and probably has a better solution than you. And it was Sehwag that day who had a better solution than me. And it taught me a lot. We did win the game and it made me a better captain. And a couple of days later, I met him at breakfast and I said you know why did you do this? The first question he asked me ‘Are you angry on me?’ I said ‘I was, I’m not anymore’. He said ‘good’. I said I told you to take singles why did you hit him? He said ‘I felt that was the best thing to do at that particular moment. That was the best thing I felt would win India the game at that particular moment.’ And it was such a lesson for me on captaincy. I said I have a Sehwag who’s different, I have a Dravid who’s different, I have a Ganguly who’s different and I have a Harbhajan Singh who’s different. They can’t play the same way. So if I have to be successful, I have to understand that they win cricket matches their way and I have to let them do that.”
Ganguly continues, “And I think a successful group, successful entrepreneur alongwith your aims and goals and objectives of wanting to be successful, don’t forget this very simple line and solution in your journey is that everyone’s different and you cannot make everyone play the same way or everyone work the same way. As long as he delivers for you, as a leader you need to have that capability of adjustment in you. And I say that when you manage individuals, you have to manage them differently. You cannot expect every individual to behave, react, work and do things the same way. That is very important in leadership.”

Mohammad Kaif played a brilliant knock of 87 not out, he was well supported by Yuvraj Singh who scored 69 and both helped India script one of the most memorable wins in the history of the game.
India were struggling at 146/5 when both Yuvraj and Kaif got together at the crease.
The duo put on a partnership of 121 runs to give India a glimmer of hope in the match.
Yuvraj was dismissed for 69 runs, but Kaif batted well, with tailenders, to give India a win in the final over by two wickets and with three balls to spare.
Following the win, Ganguly had waived his T-shirt at the Lord’s balcony – an image which is still fresh in the minds of all the cricket lovers in India.