For those who love cricket, there are plenty of reasons to watch the game. However, even for those who don’t, there are other reasons why you should catch a match or two. If you look beyond the game, you’ll notice that there is a lot more going on the field than just batting and bowling. There is teamwork, dedication, and planning. However, did you know our Indian cricket team can also teach you a thing or two about dealing with situations at work professionally?

Those who are pursuing MBA or BBA, be it through distance education or otherwise, must take note of these key management lessons that could be learnt from the Indian cricket team.

Lesson 1: Utilizing resources

Each person in the team is a resource, and the job of the captain is to analyse each person’s strengths and play them when they can contribute the most. There is no point of saving your best player for last when he/she can probably contribute the most at the start of the game.

Even if the key players are injured or unavailable for any other reason, a good captain will still go ahead with the players at hand and rearrange the order to play to their strengths. Utilizing resources is a valuable trait and can take management students far in their career.

Lesson 2: Strategy

Every game needs a new and innovative strategy. So the captain along with the coach and players will need to find ways to effectively tackle the game. This strategy will need to change based on the opponents, the location, the pitch, and weather to name a few factors.

Stay calm, composed, and do not succumb to pressure.

Lesson 3: Dealing with a loss

A team is not just judged on their winning, but also on how they handle a loss. The Indian cricket team is always able to introspect, figure out what went wrong and work on it. They’re able to bounce back and not let a loss shatter their confidence. This is an important skill for any team to have.

If a loss can break the team’s spirit, a lot of time, money and resources are spent trying to rebuild it. However, a good manager or captain can still focus on the positive and keep the team’s spirits high even after a loss.

Lesson 4: Taking risks

Taking a risk is not the same as taking a calculated risk, and this is something that the team has learnt to do. There was a time under MS Dhoni’s captaincy when the team was taking a more defensive stance and not taking enough risks. However, the team has worked on this and have learnt to take more calculated risks. The result? They have started to achieve more.

Sometimes you may need to take a risk in your professional life and more often than not, you may find success with it (when you take both the pros and cons into consideration).

Lesson 5: Teamwork

It’s important that each member of the team has clarity about their role and contribution to the team. They also need to know that no matter what happens on the field, the captain will have their back and not throw them under the bus.

Even after the final loss against Pakistan in the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy, Virat Kohli said: “I have a smile on my face because I am very proud of how our team played.” For a team to know that their contribution means something is extremely important and leads to high moral and overall better performance.

Let’s hope that we too can use these skills that the team has mastered to better our performance at work.

If you are looking at a future in a management role, do take a look at the distance MBA programoffered by SMU-DE: the distance education arm of Sikkim Manipal University.