It was during a lecture series on success stories titled “Winning Edge“organized by MMA, I met the cricket legend and one of India’s finest wicket keepers Syed Kirmani. The brief interaction I had with him during tea and the session which followed was a proof to what a great human being and wonderful person Kiri is.

Born in Madras, Kiri who rose from a humble beginning in cricket regards his parents as role models and says that they were a great source of inspiration to him. In a speech which followed he shares his formula to success.

Being Consistent is possibly the answer to achieve success in any walk of life and when it is combined with Sincerity and Honesty the result is always success. Moreover to taste success one should possess Mental toughness and never buckle under pressure. All this when combined with a Right attitude that whatever happens in life happens for a reason and a firm Belief in almighty is the formula to success.

Good speaker that he was, he cited several anecdotes and kept the audience in a mix of logic and emotion. To illustrate the power of positive thinking and utmost faith in almighty he cited an incidence which had happened during one of his flight trips, where a passenger suddenly had developed chest pain, the airhostess was announcing the emergency situation and was requesting for a doctor on board, during the 3^rd call a doctor rose up and went to attend the patient and after several anxious moments when the flight was about to land, the air hostess came back and announced that the passenger was treated and he was safe now, bringing relief to all the other passengers. 

Feeling intrigued Kirmani walks up to the doctor and questions him on why he had attended to the patient at the 3^rd call instead of the 1^st one, for which the person replied that he was no doctor himself and sensing that there was no doctor available on board he had consecrated to the divine and went all by himself to help his fellow passenger in the distressful moment and instill hope in him that he would be alright soon. But when a shocked Kirmani further asked him what was administered to the patient, the reply came in as Brufen a drug which under any other circumstances could have become fatal to a cardiac patient. Quoting this incident Kiri emphasized the power of positive thinking and faith in almighty and how an ordinary pain killer turned out to be a life saving drug and helped in saving the life of a person. He also spoke about superstition among sportsmen and recounted some funny incidents and also requested the audiences to develop a positive thinking pattern and never to encourage superstitions in mind.

He also sent the audience into reels of laughter while citing several examples from his cricket life; another incidence which Kiri mentioned which had fascinated me was during their quest for 1983 world cup. On how he was pulled out of bath, to pad up since India was already 17 for 5 in the very first overs and he was to bat at 8^th down. However with some struggle, when he hit a powerful 4 off Malcom Marshall, Kapil who was at the non striker end at 60 or so felt motivated which had helped them to win the match. Also in the same world cup contest he recounted the final match where Balvinder Singh Sandhu took the prized wicket of Gordon Greenidge and how it changed the mood of the entire Indian team on the ground. Humorously he recounted the anecdote saying Balvinder Singh Sandhu himself was so surprised getting the wicket saying “I don’t know how the ball became an off cutter when I bowled it a leg cutter one!”.

While speaking on developing a right attitude he stated that he also strongly believes that whatever happens happens for a reason and it will all be good, He also recalled an incident on how he lost his mother two days prior to his daughter’s wedding and the emotional turmoil he underwent. But he had to carry on with the wedding since his mother had requested him to do. Kiri became emotional for a while when he recalled this incident. I could sense the deep reverence and love he had for his parents. He also cited another incident on how he was dropped from the Indian squad and now he feels fortunate enough to have been dropped lest had he been in the team he could have been involved in the betting scandal with the lure of so much money that happened immediately around this time. With this he emphasized that whatever happens happens for the good and we must prepare ourselves that way. A very profound philosophy expressed in such simple way that everyone can understand and take lessons from.

He lamented that cricket which traditionally is a gentleman’s game is no longer one with so many inter team and intra team fights on and off the fields. Given an opportunity he said he was willing to coach and give the country a better Kirmani.

I asked a question, why we no longer have any legendary wicketkeeper after the legends Faroukh Engineer and Sayed Kirmani himself. He said good wicket keepers are primarily born. They need specific flexibility, sharp sights, agility and so on. Unfortunately while there are coaches for Bowling (fast as well as spin), fielding and batting, no body thinks of coaching for wicket keepers. Wicket keeping has taken a secondary slot when Rahul Dravid is asked to keep wickets or we prefer a batsman who can also keep wicket rather than a wicket keeper who can also bat. He said a good wicket keeper is one who can keep the spinners since the same requires much more alertness and agility and he was very fortunate to face legendary spinners like Chandrasekhar, Bedi and Prasanna , an opportunity that the keepers now a days do not have. Any parallel to our corporate practices? Well I would write on it sometime later.