Some cricketers are known to have some extraordinary talent in batting and bowling departments, some are known for their electrifying fielding, and some are best remembered for their reading of the game.
Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly falls in the 3rd category. While his fans will say he is the best ever Indian skipper and some will disagree, but the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Microsoft Satya Nadella feels that his leadership abilities match with Ganguly.
Nadella, who was on a short little tour to India for the promotion of his book ‘Hit Refresh’, is an ardent cricket fan. Certainly, he was playing with a Kookaburra ball when he heard that he is going to be the 3rd CEO in the history of Microsoft, after renowned personalities like Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. Being a cricket lover, he was constrained to various questions regarding the game.
When he was asked to name the player whose leadership skills matches with his, Nadella replied, “Sourav Ganguly, the unlikely captain from West Bengal.” He used the word ‘unlikely’ because he feels just like Dada was an unlikely skipper, he also was unlikely to be the CEO of $85 billion company.
Referring to Dada’s way of finding out talented youngsters, the Microsoft CEO said, “That was the first time when I saw somebody bet on kids from Uttar Pradesh…. Dhoni also came up around that time…. I am a big believer in people like that who, not because of their individual achievement on the field, have fundamentally brought about a broader change which has now come to the fore.”
He further elaborated, “When you see somebody like Umesh Yadav make it into the Indian team, when you see people from every state making it on merit, (you wonder) how did that happen? Because (until Ganguly arrived) it was a system that was about the metropolis and maybe five-six states that essentially controlled Indian cricket. I don’t that is the case anymore.”
Unlike earlier days, many youngsters from very poor backgrounds are breaking into the bigger scheme of things nowadays. Referring to the meteoric rise of Mohammed Siraj, Nadella said, “I recently learned that the guy who made his debut in the recent IPL league came from a neighborhood in the vicinity of the place where I grew up in Hyderabad. He (Mohammed Siraj) was the son of an auto-rickshaw driver. When I read that, I thought this is amazing.”
Mr. CEO concluded, “When you think of the Hyderabadis who made it into test cricket in the era when I grew up in, there were the Nawabs (Tiger Pataudi), there was the Nawab’s cousin (Saad bin Jung, who played for Hyderabad and was a schoolmate), and now things have changed.”
