While we applaud the phenomenal grit and hard work put in by our Olympics delegation in Rio, the tally of only two medals — and those only in individual events — is of course disappointing. Usually there is just a thin line separating winners from losers, more so in team events where planning, strategy and coordination are paramount. The shared experience in the recently concluded, highly competitive Pro Kabaddi League indicates that our sportsmen coming from varied backgrounds can in fact win consistently.
Just a few days before the Olympics commenced, in front of a packed stadium in Hyderabad, and watched on television by more than forty million viewers, Patna Pirates won the coveted trophy for the second consecutive time in a ferociously fought final of the Pro Kabaddi League.
Two years ago, just one day before the first player auctions, based on a call from a friend, I agreed to pick up the Patna franchise of a new league promoting an eight-member team in a five-week, caravan-style kabaddi tournament. For me it was literally a leap into the unknown.
Here was I, a Mumbai businessman with no connection in Patna or to sports, and no knowledge of kabaddi barring childhood memories. Two years down the line, I would become a proud owner of a professionally-run, championship-winning team.
People have since been asking me, “What is the mantra for Patna Pirates’ history-making double?” If the first title was attributed to the presence of good players on the team and luck, surely the second win proves that we were doing something consistently right.
Charu Sharma and Anand Mahindra both had a role part to play in delivering Pro Kabbadi to a grateful nation. Star Sports, with its presentation, transformed the Pro Kabaddi League after four rapid-fire seasons into the second-highest-viewed domestic tournament after the Indian Premier League. Sport and its presentation are of course all about igniting and sharing deep passion, zeal, irrational fervour and fierce identification. Sport team management is more about calmness, objectivity and executing a clinical approach to achieve success.
Establishing an enterprise requires obtaining correct advice and it took me the better part of two seasons to figure that out. I learnt the hard way that those who gave advice, especially about selection of personnel such as a coach or player, often had a vested interest. So I entrusted personnel selection to a couple of young professionals with no background or association with the game. The selection process was therefore carried out with an unbiased mind, analytically and on merit as far as possible.
The next difficult task, with barely five weeks to go before the start of the tournament, was to transform these players, coaches and other staff, who perhaps had little connection with each other, into a cohesive, fighting squad. Our aim was to create a fully charged unit that worked together and played for each other, and not only for their individual stardom. Easier said than done.
The application of a few fundamental principles seems to have given demonstrable results. The first principle was to constantly motivate and provide focused attention to develop each individual’s special capabilities as well as to capitalise on the skills of the outstanding players. The second was to establish the management’s confidence in a player’s talents, to gain his trust in the management’s judgement and to ensure he believed in the competence of his teammates. The third, was to prevent and eliminate errant behaviour, either by gentle counselling or, if required, with drastic action of removal of any player from the team who imagined himself above the team. Everyone was encouraged to play, practise and exercise with great discipline and spend time enjoying themselves together.
The five arduous weeks of the tournament, match after match, victories and losses, all veritably test team capability. My only insistence on the team management was that they focus on one match at a time. The match to be played was the most important match we would ever play and every player had to believe there was no higher goal beyond winning that match. Every day the entire team would together watch replays again and again of their own matches and those of the team they were playing next and participate in critical performance appraisals led by the coach. Individual and group motivation and counselling sessions were at the crux of the approach of the management.
The core team management spent hours every day discussing player selection and planning the tactics for the next match. These plans evolved from perceptions of the vital strengths and weaknesses of the opposing team to chalking out in detail multiple options and what-if scenarios. This meticulous and painstaking preparedness for an exhaustive range of outcomes as they might occur in a highly charged, fast paced game, was the decisive and crucial factor in our victory march. Once the game was on, the coach, far from being swayed by momentary gains or losses, coolly, rigorously and ruthlessly applied the pre-agreed strategy of switching player positions or effecting substitutions. All this made the difference.
As the Pro Kabaddi League extends its reach and popularity globally, I’d wish for the Patna Pirates to build on the experiences gained and continue their progress with humility and vigour.
The author is the owner of two-time Pro Kabaddi League champion Patna Pirates and the co-chairman and managing director of Mukand Ltd. Views expressed are personal
Disclaimer: These are personal views of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect the opinion of www.business-standard.com or the Business Standard newspaper
