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This is my diary....what I make sense of, around me. You'll find short prose on contemporary topics that interest me. What can you expect - Best adjectives? …. hmm occasionally, tossed around flowery verbs ?…. Nope, haiku-like super-brevity? … I try to. Thanks for dropping by & hope to see you again

July 23, 2012

The Winning Way


This book is a breezy read with its  easy prose, anecdotes, and of course cricket trivia. Who wouldn’t like to know why Kapil & Jayasurya lingered around even after their prime time in cricket, or for that Pakistan Batsman who played selfishly despite the orders of its enigmatic captain Imran Khan forcing him to storm to the field in a rage “ You will never play for Pakistan again” ?.

The winning way jumps frequently between cricket & management and attempts to find similarities in its principles and practices like planning, team building, setting Targets, work ethics etc. Examples abound as to how companies, like cricket teams have fared on these counts. Harsha Bhogle & his coauthor wife Anita have painstakingly dejargonised the content which usually tends to be when combining Management & statistics. 
 
Though the book heavily relies on Cricket, a fair bit of garnishing of other sports also has been done. Particularly Hockey where the authors have tried to explain the ills within the Indian Hockey system which has seen the National sports  slide from being world Numero-Uno's  in the 1950’s to also ran’s by the end of the millennia. So far so good.

However the Book fails to explain why a similar trend was also seen in Indian Football . Or  for that matter why Indian Olympians (past & present) are not made to pass through this litmus test of management principles & practices that the book subjected cricket to?  It would have done justice to the academic and cerebral qualities of the authors if they had addressed the core issues of Indian sports which revolves around the decline of Hockey, Football & Olympics today with the principles of sports Management by drawing parallels & insightful studies of other countries like China which quickly made it up the curve in all of them . By pandering heavily on cricket, the Bhogle’s are once again playing (commenting) to the galleries.

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