1) The captain's main job is to deliver results - and he must do all he can to deliver wins.
2) All wins go to the team, all losses and blame comes to the captain - part of the deal.
3) The captain must ensure that the best resources are playing - the best XI must play. Any compromise will compromise the team, the result, and will affect the captains record. One cannot give an inch in the quest to win. It's sheer arrogance if one feels they can do with less than the best resources.
4) Apart from being strategically poor, not playing the best players (normally out of bias) sends a signal to the entire team that the captain is not fair. Once the team feels that the captain is not fair, he loses respect. Players start playing for themselves, the team gets divided and we lose the edge. One cannot win championships with such an atmosphere. On the other hand if the captain is fair and fights for what is fair, the team trusts him and backs him and fight aa one for him.
5) Having ensured the best XI the captain must ensure he is getting the best out of everyone by using all their skills fully. To do this the captain must have an understanding of what each one brings in terms of skill and attitude, their strengths and weaknesses. The best way is to talk to them, talk to their team mates, coaches, watch them in different circumstances etc. Most players do not know their potential. A good captain can see it and helps them achieve it. Eg. Pinch hitters, part time bowlers. Sehwag as opener and off spinner.
6) The best XI is followed by our decision to bat or bowl after the toss. Unless there's a clear advantage in the conditions for bowlers, it's best to put runs on the board and put pressure on the opponents. It gives tactical advantage. Enough thought must go into what they course of action should be after the toss.
7) All of the above is to get a competitive advantage over the opponent. The entire idea of winning is to grab the advantage and press it home ruthlessly. If we do not have the advantage we must hold on our position without slipping too far out of the game and try and get a foothold in the door and then come back. Eg. India -Australia at Calcutta, VVS Laxman's match
8) Winning is all about being ruthless. Practice being ruthless in every competition, in every game, every situation. Winning must become second nature. No relaxing.
9) Ruthlessness extends to resources as well. Resources must earn their place and not be handed it out in an out-of-turn manner. This will not only hurt that resource, it will hurt the team and the captaincy record. When a resource is ready, the opportunity will create itself. The captain need not create chances.
10) Under a poor captain, the entire teams performance goes down. Under a good captain, all the main players to perform and he will carry much of the load himself. But a great captain will get everyone to perform better than their expectations. Great captains normally show their belief in the fringe players and motivate them to give an extra 10-20% which adds up heavily to the final tally. It also eases the pressure off the main players.
To get that extra edge, our job will be to focus on getting a little more out of the fringe players by believing in them, setting expectations, giving any coaching inputs etc. Eg. All good captains - MSD.
11) The good captain operates on faith which is very different from operating on hope. Hope implies there is no belief. Hope implies we are not sure and are taking a chance. Faith comes from a stronger space that translates into the player feeling trusted. The difference in hoping and trusting shows in the players performance. Eg..MSD - Joginder Singh
12) Much of cricketing knowledge or understanding passes on through deep discussions on craft, strategy, tactics, history and story telling. Mumbai cricket revels in that culture. To gain faster exposure, captains and aspiring captains must learn to engage actively, ask questions in all kinds of fora more so with senior players, captains etc. Eg. Mumbai.
13) The best players need not be the best leaders. So giving your star player the burden of Captaincy may not always be right. It may affect negatively in two ways - one, that the star players performance gets affected and the team performance subsequently and two, sometimes the pressure a star performer brings on the team does not aid the others to perform. Unless the star is also a good leader who can get others to perform as well, it's better to look for a different captain so team performance is not affected. The star player can focus on his game and the leader can focus on the rest of the team. (Eg Tendulkar)
14) Every little change in the course of the game gives an opportunity to seal the game - do not relax once you have the game fully under control. Finish it as soon as you can, by using your best resources, else things can go really bad if we let the opponent breathe. Eg. All games that were in our control and we let the opponents get away.
A few points that came out of the discussion. It was an excellent discussion and I hope to build on this.
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