There are several memorable lines in Sir Alex Ferguson’s Leading: Learning from Life and My Years at Manchester United, written jointly with Michael Moritz. This article cherry-picks a couple of them to put things in context. “You cannot lead by following,” wrote the legendary former United manager. There’s another: “One mark of a leader is his willingness to share information.”
As a leader, Sir Alex transcended his sport. He was invited to teach at the Harvard Business School even. Naturally, his leadership principles are relevant in every profession. Cricket can’t be an exception.
It looks like the Indian cricket team needs a new leader. Rohit Sharma appears to be encumbered by the stress of not scoring runs and it is making him subdued as a captain. At times, he is looking a little distraught, especially when Travis Head is batting and walloping the bowling. Thankfully, his deputy has taken up the role of keeping the morale high, leading by example and with his words.
As Sir Alex said, Jasprit Bumrah is not leading by following. He is the highest wicket-taker in the ongoing series after five innings — 18 scalps at an average of 11.72. He is putting an arm around his struggling teammates, constantly guiding Akash Deep during a potentially match-saving, and probably series-defining, 10th-wicket partnership at the Gabba and hitting the right note at press conferences.
Sample this: At the end of the third day’s play in Brisbane, when the tourists looked down and out, and at the mercy of the weather gods, Bumrah was asked about not having much support around him. The vice-captain chose to focus on the collective. “We don’t as a team point fingers at each other,” he told reporters. “That you should be doing this, that, etc. We are going through a transition as a bowling unit. I am trying to help them. They will get better. This is the journey to get there.”
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Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj apart, India have a callow fast-bowling group. Harshit Rana, who played the first two Tests, is a spring chicken. Akash is playing only his sixth Test. The young fast bowlers don’t have someone like B Arun in the support staff to mother-hen them. Bumrah is their go-to man. And true to Sir Alex’s leadership principle, the team’s pace spearhead has been sharing information, helping them get better.
During Australia’s first innings in the third Test, Siraj allowed the adrenaline rush to get the better of him. He lost the plot. A cramp made matters worse. Siraj became a target for the Australian boo-boys following his fiery send-off to Head in Adelaide. At the Gabba, as he struggled to make an impact, the seamer found himself at the receiving end of criticism from several other quarters. Like an elder brother, Bumrah defended him.
“We have conversations. He (Siraj) bowled well before in this game. He had a niggle and kept on bowling. Fighter attitude that and rest of the team love it. Some days you bowl well and wickets come and sometimes it doesn’t. I have told him that before. He is in a very good space and has a great attitude,” Bumrah said at the presser.
Leadership is different from captaincy. A backstory about the Pakistan cricket team, Inzamam-ul-Haq to be precise, could be relevant. Ahead of the 1992 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand, Inzamam had severe food poisoning and was on the drip. He had given up on playing the game when Javed Miandad intervened. On his insistence, the youngster was included in the XI, overruling doctors’ advice. Inzamam’s 60 off 37 balls took Pakistan to the final and eventually they won the World Cup. Miandad wasn’t the captain, but he was a leader and skipper Imran Khan relied on him to get the job done.
Coming back to Bumrah, he showed his tactical nous as a stand-in captain during India’s win in the first Test in Perth. With an average of less than 20 for a bowler, who has taken 190 Test wickets or more, he is a legend-in-the-making. And he is a leader. As Rohit’s red-ball career saunters into a sunset, India have their next Test captain ready.
Also Read: Akash Deep and Bumrah take a leaf out of Ashwin-Vihari survival manual