IISM welcomed 96’ winning Cricket World Cup Captain Mr. Arjuna Ranatunga

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IISM welcomed 96 winning Cricket World Cup
Captain Mr. Arjuna Ranatunga
On Friday 29th April, Mr. Arjuna Ranatunga, Sri
Lankan Cricketing Legend visited the
International Institute of Sports Management
(IISM) campus, Mumbai. It was under Mr.
Ranatungas captaincy, the Sri Lankan cricketing
team won their maiden Cricket World Cup in 1996.
The students and the staff members were glad that
a World Cup-winning captain graced the institute
with his presence. Mr. Ranatunga debuted with a
test match in February 1982 and went on to play
with distinction at the highest level for the
next 18 years. He was an outstanding batsman and
an extraordinary player who always kept the
needs of his country and his team members above
his own. During his career, Mr. Ranatunga went
on to score 5,105 runs in 93 Test matches and
7,456 runs in 269 ODIs. As a Sri Lankan captain,
he infused his players with self-belief and was
always at the front to lead the team to victory,
on and off the field. After retirement, he worked
to ensure the team continued to perform well in
all domains, and hence took up numerous posts in
the Sri Lanka Cricket Administration. He started
his political career in 2005 and since then
served as a loving and well- respected
politician. He was the former cabinet Minister of
Transport and Civil Aviation.
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An interaction session was planned between Mr.
Ranatunga and the IISM students at the IISM
campus. The session started with an introduction
of Mr. Ranatunga, followed which, Mr. Ranatunga
said a few words about his childhood and his
humble background. He said his mother was a
teacher, and his father a small businessman and a
politician. He has five siblings and he is the
second child of the six. He completed his studies
from a school where his mother was a
teacher. While reminiscing about his childhood,
he mentioned that every child should spend
quality time with their parents. He explained
how important it is to seek the blessings of
their parents and how every student should
always touch their parents feet before leaving
the house. During the talk Mr. Ranatunga shared
some anecdotes that explained the importance of
parents and how their blessings would be the
only thing that would come in handy during tough
times. Later he conveyed a message that you must
do everything in your power to be number one. The
most important aspect of maintaining the number
one position is to always have a clear mindset.
You must never perform any actions that will
bring you down to number two. He taught us that
while working in a team, you must never be
distracted by anything and try to keep your
problems away by focusing on the work on
hand. Continuing his talk, he mentioned that
teamwork is most important, and every team
members priority should be the success of the
team and not individual goals. Individual tasks
are important but as a team player, you should
never prioritize it over the requirements of the
team. He said that he is very punctual and
explained the importance of punctuality. He
explained it by giving a live example, where he
made a rule during the 1996 World Cup that every
player had to return to their respective hotel
rooms before 10 PM. There were instances where
players did not obey and strict actions were
taken against them. The most common action that
Mr. Ranatunga had to undertake was suspending
players for two or three matches. He was so
strict with the rule, that under one
circumstance, he had to send one of the players
back to Sri Lanka for repeating the same
mistake. While continuing the session he taught
another lesson about how not to underestimate
your opponent competitors. If you think you
are better than your competitor, then you must
always take steps to improve your game, by
enhancing your skill. The reason being, the
moment your
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competitor becomes motivated they will do
everything in their power to overtake you. You
must never give them any chance to overcome you
under any circumstances. Then he continued to
answer some questions posed by the IISM students
and gave crisp, and elaborate answers to all
questions. It was a captivating experience for
the students as the session helped them learn
crucial lessons in people management. He
explained the importance of subjectivity in
dealing with people. The students got to
understand these people management lessons which
Mr. Ranatunga did in the 90s as the captain of
the Sri Lanka cricket team. The session
concluded with Mr. Ranatunga felicitating Ms.
Devanshi Mali, for her gold win at the Khelo
India University Games 2021, held in
Bangalore. -Blog by Ishaan Ranadive (SYBSM)