Krish Srikkanth's tips for success

It was great to hear and see Krish Srikkanth as the keynote speaker of the CEO Conclave at the fest of the Great Lakes Institute at Chennai.

Srikkanth recounted his cricket playing days and particularly the 1983 world cup victory for getting his message of success to the people gathered there.

He said that he was dropped from the Indian team when it toured West Indies in 1983 and that was the time he got married. After a brief honeymoon which he spent at Sri Lanka, he returned to Chennai and recieved a call from Sunil Gavaskar. Sunny asked him "Cheeka, do you want to go for a second honeymoon to the USA?"

Srikkanth said "Sure, what do I have to do?"

"Oh, just play some exhibition games and have a good time. You can impress your wife" Sunil replied.

"Sure, count me in"

"Ok Cheeka, by the way, we will all go to the US with a stopover at London. You know, play a couple of games for the World Cup, probably watch the semi finals and finals at Lords' and then head to the US"

Srikkanth shared "Yes, we were that confident that we won't last until the quarter finals, that the World Cup was just a trip for us en route to the US"

He then shared "Well our first game was against the West Indies, two time winner of the World Cup with names like Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Viv Richards, Jeff Dujon, Clive Lloyd, Gus Logie and those four fast bowlers whose names I don't want to remember!"

"Kapil addressed the team meeting and said, boys, we have beaten the West Indies once in the tour we had before this and we can beat them again today. I told myself, this guy has gone bonkers. Beat the West Indies? That's not possible. But Kapil is an aggressive guy, he was insistent ...chhodna nahin, he told us. And that team meeting is what made us believe in ourselves. People say we became a champion side after we won the world cup, but no, we became a champion side after that team meeting. Only Kapil Dev was responsible for that achievement, he made us believe we could do it"

"We played all our roles and Kapil led from the front. Remember that match against Zimbabwe when we were 17 for 5. Any other captain would have buckled under and played safe. Not Kapil. He only knew one way to play. By being aggro"

The other points he shared was to take a decision based on your heart instead of your head. "People will mock you. Chandu Borde was the manager when I sent Chetan Sharma to be a pinch hitter at number 3 against England and he was livid. But Chetu scored 105 ! That was because I had to take a decision and I knew I could ask him to score a quickfire 20-25 at more than a ball. I couldn't ask Dilip or Mohinder to do that. Cricket is a team sport, as a captain you have to take decisions . The brain will only give you options, but your heart takes the decision"

Talking about self growth he told people "Listen to what your heart tells you to be. That is eventually what you will be. "

Then he dwelt about his form slump after the 1983 world cup when he was chucked from the team and almost got ejected from the Tamil Nadu team too. "Making a comeback at the World Championship of Cricket in Australia I was determined to prove my critics wrong, to be acknowledged as a great one-day player. Our first match was against Pakistan and I was thinking so much about what I could be that I forgot to concentrate on my basics. My feet were not moving and I was out for a low score. I believed I would never play for India again. In the second match I batted without any worries and played my natural game and scored 50 odd runs and we won against England. Focus on the means and the ends will follow. Do not get attached to the outcome. Be detached."

By the way, how many knew that Srikkanth had turned entrepreneur and had a cricket gaming site ?