KKR, IPL2012 Champions and things to learn!

Yesterday saw the thrilling end of the IPL 2012 season in which Gautam Gambhir led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ended the dream run of the 2 time defending champion, Mahendra Singh Dhoni led Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

The match went upto the last over and was sealed in favor of KKR when Manoj Tiwari dispatched Bravo, the wily West Indian playing for the CSK, for 2 consecutive fours. KKR was the deserving winner having played one of the most consistent games during the entire course of IPL2012.

But things were not that great when the franchisee co-owned by the Bollywood megastar Shahrukh Khan, started its journey in the inaugural IPL of 2008. The team was beset with problems since then during the course of the next 3 IPLs. Though having some of the most fearsome professional cricketers like Sourav Ganguly, Chris Gayle, Brendon Mccullum, Brad Hodge and Ajanta Mendis to name a few, the team consistently under performed. There was constant bickering within the team and KKR became synonymous with Controversy. Things went from bad to worse for KKR when there was a change of guards in the form of a rotational captainship policy under the high flying coach Johan Buchannan and even the most die hard of KKR supporters started fearing for the worst.

Then the KKR management did the most obvious thing. They booted out players who had high egos and were constantly at the forefront of all arguments. These cricketers who were constantly worried about "I" at the cost of "WE" were the root cause for the under performance of the talented team. This decision, though highly unpopular amongst many, was the precursor to the rise of KKR from the ashes like the phoenix.
The team today seems to be a very cohesive unit and the culture of "I" seems to have been takeover by a culture of "WE". Each team member seems to be relishing each others company and success. KKR seems to have learnt the lesson, though the hard way, that "ILLNESS" can be changed to "WELLNESS", if we drop I and bring in WE.

We at Blue Caramel always envisage that the culture of WE is always at the helm of any decision that is taken because as the saying goes, Together we rise, divided we fall and to divide only the rise of an "I " culture is required, of which we should be always beware.