“I joined my captain at the fall of the eighth wicket at the score of 140. Even as I walked towards the middle, I was determined to stay with him at the crease. I told him that I will take a single off the first ball of every over. He can hit the remaining five balls for boundaries,” reminisced Syed Mujtaba Hussain Kirmani, in a recent conversation that I had with him.
“Kiri bhai, but we still have a long way to go,” Kirmani recalled Kapil Dev telling him. “Don’t worry skipper, I’ll stand by you,” was the assertive response. And the versatile stumper kept up his word.
“I was fortunate and privileged to witness an innings of the highest order from across the pitch,” recalled Kirmani. “Every shot was from the copybook. 175 runs embellished with 16 fours and 6 sixes, in just 138 balls. I don’t think anyone has played such a superlative innings ever since.”
India finished at 266, without any further loss of wickets, enough on the board to defeat Zimbabwe by 31 runs, at Tunbridge Wells on June 18th, 1983, in what turned out to be a crucial match of that historic World Cup. If that match had been lost, the World Cup would not have been ours the following week.
Kirmani remained not out on 24, but he stood like a rock facing 56 balls, that allowed his skipper to go on the rampage at the other end. The only other batsman remaining in the pavilion was Balwinder Sandhu, with a measly record of just 51 runs in 22 One-Day Internationals. So, under the circumstances, this was indeed a crucial partnership.
The Kapil Dev-Syed Kirmani partnership brings out many key similarities with any of our professional careers.
You can achieve anything if you have determination and courage. While Kirmani was determined to stay grounded at his end, Kapil Dev displayed the courage to blast the team out of trouble.
Focus on the end objective. Kapil Dev and Kirmani had to stay together to put up a fighting total after the batting collapse. Remember, Kapil had made that famous statement at the start of the tournament: “We here to win!”. So, the objective was absolutely clear and they did not shift their focus whatsoever.
Believe in yourself and your partner. Kapil and Kirmani had the belief that they would weather the storm together. They also had belief in each other’s capability and the complementary role that they would play. If Kapil were to protect his partner at the other end, which he would have had to if Sandhu were to be his partner, his run-scoring spree would have been curtailed.
Trust your partner and support each other. It takes a lot of conviction to trust your partner who has just arrived at the crease after the earlier eight batsmen had been dismissed cheaply. Kapil did just that and it certainly provided Kirmani the courage to steadfastly hold on to one end.
Chase your dream. The heroics of Kapil and Kirmani in that match proved to be the turning point. The team never looked back again. They went on to chase their cherished dream of, “We here to win!”.
Celebrate success. Champaigne flowed at Lord’s on June 25th, 1983, when a beaming Kapil Dev lifted the World Cup. History was made. Celebrations began across the country. We’re still celebrating that success, aren’t we?
The views and opinions published here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the publisher.
A seasoned corporate communications professional with over 40 years of experience in the field, Narahari guides internal teams at The PRactice on media engagement and outreach strategies. During the course of a noteworthy career, he has led several global initiatives at organisations such as HMT, Wipro, IBM, Dell and Texas Instruments.
The Public Relations Council of India recognised his contribution to the profession by inducting him into its ‘Hall of Fame’ in 2011. He was also conferred the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ at PRAXIS in 2017. He is a former Chairman of the Marketing & Communications Forum of NASSCOM in Karnataka and teaches a Corporate Communications course as a visiting faculty member at a college in Bangalore.
Narahari is an avid traveller and a keen singer of retro Hindi film songs. He also follows cricket closely.
Awesome article Hari.
Very well written. Very encouraging. I have shared this with my team
I am sure my team will be fully pep to perform.
Very well written and great learnings, so nicely you described.
Proud of you Narhari
Very insightful piece and the author has so well connected the importance of partnership in business which is built on each other’s trust and can go a long way in retaining clients.