Page 58 - AIMA : Foundation Day Souvenir

both the worlds. In Dhoni’s case, thankfully, we have a rather rare combination where leadership qualities, as well as the ability to perform well in an individual capacity, are found combined in the same individual.
Dhoni’s record leading the team, not only in terms of the championship wins but in the other traits of leadership as well, is phenomenal. In fact, it is purely because of his leadership traits— motivating, supporting, leading from the front, taking responsibility for—that Dhoni has been able to lead his team to victories, consistently.
Of course, the fact that he is also skilled with the bat and behind the wickets, makes him even more desirable in the captain’s position. But the thing to keep in mind is that if there is a choice to be made when selecting a leader between two people—one of whom is a great individual performer but not skilled at leadership—and another who is not such a great individual performer but highly skilled at leadership—it is the one with better leadership skills who needs to be selected for the leadership spot.
As commentator Harsha Bhogle rightly points out: “If you’re not doing well yourself, you still have to get performance from others. These are two different things.”
Mike Brearley is considered to be the finest captain of the English cricket team of all time. He played 39 tests for England in the 1970s and the 1980s, and captained the English side in 31 of them. Out of these 31 tests he captained the side in, he won 18 tests and lost only 4. Of the 19 tests in which he captained England at home, he never lost a single one.
Was he a great bowler?
No; Brearley did not bowl.
Was he the wicket-keeper then?
No; Brearley had the services of one of the greatest wicket-keepers of all time, Alan Knott, when he was captain. So Brearley did not keep (or needed to keep) wickets either.
Then he must have been a great batsman. Wrong
again. Brearley did bat, but he could hardly be called great, or even a good, batsman. In the 66 innings that Brearley batted for England in test-matches, his average was extremely modest: just 22.88. This is an average that even tail-enders have today. He never scored a single test century either. So, if he was such an average performer, why was he occupying a slot in the team in the first place? Because, purely as a captain—a cricketing brain—he was a genius.
It seems amazing that in over 30 testmatches, across many years, he was in the side purely for his captaincy skills alone.
English superstar cricketer Ian Botham, who played many matches under Brearley’s brilliant captaincy, said about Brearley: “Without a doubt the best captain I ever played under, a man with a billion-dollar cricketing brain.”
Australian record-breaking pace-bowler Rodney Hogg, who played against Brearley’s English team, described Brearley as having “A degree in people.”
Brearley was truly a master motivator — a leader whom the most talented men would gladly follow.
And it showed in his captaincy record: 31 tests – 4 losses – 17 wins.
Brearley’s best-selling book, The Art of Captaincy—largely based on his own successful leadership experience—is considered as a classic work; it is a book that needs to be read by every aspiring leader, no matter what field they are in.
An contrasting example to that of Brearley’s is Sachin Tendulkar, who, being maybe the best batsman the world has ever seen, himself declined the leadership role after a short stint, as he realised that it was impacting his batting abilities.
But Dhoni took a different approach, where his batting actually flowered and flourished in combination with his leadership role. So, on one hand we have players like Sachin Tendulkar— excellent performers—but not suitable for the
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