Leadership, at times, is a lonely place: Kumar Sangakkara

Sangakkara retired from international cricket in 2015 © Getty

"Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things." Ask Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lankan great, who has not just done things right, but has also done the right things for over 15 years of being involved in the sport.

Known as one of the most influential personalities of the generation, to having achieved legendary status as a batsman and reaffirming claims that he wasn't just cut out for commonplace stardom, Sangakkkara can boast of possessing a rather ornate cap. That, however, didn't take him too far away from the person he wanted to be, admitting that the test to truly find oneself could only be realised once curtains were drawn on the game.

Self-effacing, forthright, sophisticated and refined, Sangakkara opens up about the nuances of leadership, learnings, his approach to the game and the importance of setting an example, in an exclusive chat with Cricbuzz.

Excerpts:

Given your success I'm sure there were times you felt pressure. How did you deal with it?

Pressure is part and parcel of the sport. The more success you have, the more pressure you're put under because of the expectations - not just from spectators, but those of yourself and also of the team. It's like a double-edged sword or a Catch 22 situation where you understand what pressure is and keep battling through that and find new ways of dealing with it. But that's also the beauty of playing the sport at this level; that's what really tests you. Your skill level can always be at a high but how you deal with situations, how you play in accordance to the situation and how you deal with pressure and challenges in the middle is what finally gets you through and that skill converts talent into ability and winning performances.

As a captain, there are naturally different kinds of challenges... did you find the expectations of yourself change too much?

Sometimes, you fall into that trap where you think, 'I'm the captain and I've got to do a lot more than I was doing before'. But it's very important to compartmentalise leadership. When you're batting, you bat as a batsman and find ways to score runs. To be effective for your side, you don't have to have the captain's cap on all the time because it's just of no use, as if you do get out and are sitting in the dressing room, there's not much captaining left for you to do.

It's important to understand that when you're fielding is when you're essentially marshalling your troops, strategising and making the hard decisions. That's when you're really captaining. If you can break that down and come to grips with it, it becomes a bit easier.

A captain is as good as his team - thoughts?

Being a good captain is about pulling your own weight in the side and making sure you perform. The better you perform, the easier captaincy becomes. It's a nice interesting balance about your own performance and also surrounding yourself with players of quality which makes captaincy the easiest job because you know you have match-winners in your side. You know people can execute whatever's asked of them. So decision-making becomes very easy. Take Ricky Ponting and the Aussie side that he had under him for a few years. Hard decisions were very rare because you just had to look at your team and knew exactly what they were capable of.

How important is it for a captain to be a people's person?

It's very important be a good man manager. You need to be able to understand the capabilities of the players. Once you strategise, you need to be able to pick the players to execute them. You also need to ensure people are thinking for themselves because in tough situations, leadership becomes situational where certain players step up to lead the side with their performance or with a little spark of brilliance. That sometimes makes a captain look good even though that was beyond his control.

What is the basic prerequisite to be a good leader?

Communication, and also, being able to gain respect by ensuring that you are setting an example. It's important to understand, to talk to different players in different ways to which they can relate and understand what is required. Knowing the players on a more personal, intimate level, knowing what their background is, how they think, what their emotional state is at the time, whether they have issues that need to be dealt with, various things like that help, and that comes as you keep playing and you interact more and more. It's important to understand people and be able to motivate them in customised, individual ways that gets the best out of them. That's ultimately your job - to get the best out of your players and hope that that best is good enough to win.

When winning, the team is given credit, when losing, the captain comes in the firing line...

That's just the nature of the job. When you always say 'we', when you lose, you say 'I'. It's not too much to take to heart. You need to understand that at the end of the day, the responsibility lies solely with you and your test is mainly at the time of a loss. But sometimes, you're tested when you win as well and understand that it is important to know that it's a collective that finally stands out and gets the credit and the applause. But leadership, at times, is a lonely place. If you can't do it, it's best not to take it up in the first place.

What kind of a challenge does adapting to different formats as a captain pose?

It's about decision-making processes and strategising really, and also being able to understand that T20 cricket requires you to make decisions very, very quickly. There's just no time for catch up, whereas, in one-day cricket you have more time, and in Tests you have even more time. But also to enjoy the challenge, relish the changing formats and adapt your mental side of the game. It also requires you to be able to be quick on your feet and be situational in your thinking, and at times to be able to adapt throughout.

There's also the aspect of being able to recognise what's happening with your players. You need to know whether a decision you make regarding a player is apt for that time. Sometimes you make decisions on hope, sometimes on gut and sometimes based on reading the game and where you are - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. If you don't enjoy those situations, it's really tough to do well.

Did you have a set formula to approach your game?

I had a pretty set method of preparation, but the longer I played I realised that you prepare very hard and well and you have a foundation that you trust and fall back on, but when you go into bat, you always bat with an open mind because you don't know what's going to happen on that wicket or how the bowlers will bowl on the day. So you allow yourself to be flexible and fluid for a while and once you understand what's happening, then you can formulate a method of trying to dominate.

What was your set method of preparation?

My approach to batting is very simple: just to play the ball on merit when I start with, while assessing conditions and bowlers. Then look for ways to score because I believe batting is about scoring runs. In Test cricket situations where you sometimes score slowly, sometimes quicker, in ODI cricket, you can set your own tempo, but sometimes, the tempo is set for you. And in T20 cricket it's about ensuring that you're open enough to take risks right from the start. So my formula was basically to adapt to situations in the two longer formats and take my time to ensure that I have a good enough base from where I can launch and in T20 cricket, just smile and enjoy myself.

Kumar Sangakkara is part of the newly-appointed Sri Lanka selection panel © AFP

Do you think budding T20 leagues will prompt premature retirements?

If you are your country's best player, you're firmly able to play Test matches. At the end of the day, I think it's the finances that drive decisions at certain times in your career. But I know for a fact that all players take the greatest pride in playing Test cricket for their country. T20 cricket has given cricketers who can't make it in Tests the opportunity, or those who had careers, to go beyond that and play franchise cricket.

There have been moments of friction between players and boards that has led to some fantastic players not playing for their country. But those are situations that can be worked on in the future and prevented by having a better understanding, rapport and communication between players and administrators as to how best to approach this relationship between international cricket and franchise cricket.

Players will themselves have to understand that they can't have the whole cake and eat it too. They'll have to prioritise commitments and also be given the opportunity to maximise their earning capabilities in franchise cricket.

Your advice to youngsters who want to take up the sport

It's a great sport to play. It's a very special sport because it's one that's got a certain character to it that is not present in other sports. But there's also an expectation of a cricketer that is to be much more than in any other sport. So it's a great test of character for a young kid, but at the same time, it's a great skilful athletic sport that's a viable profession that gives great opportunities as long as you understand that playing this game to the best of your abilities in the most honest manner possible is what will open those doors for you. So if you're taking up the sport, take it up seriously. Have fun, enjoy it, otherwise you won't do well, but when you do get those opportunities, ensure that you leave a mark.

Looking back, what have you learnt from the game?

It has made me realise how lucky I've been. To be able to play the sport for such a long time, and to have the career I've had, has given me a lot of good things, but at the same time it has made me understand that it's just a game and a sport; it's not real life.

As much as we want it to be, it's not and that there's a lot of life to be lived beyond the game as well. It doesn't matter how many runs you've scored or what you've achieved in cricket, the real test comes once you've gone away from the sport and face real life without the glitz and the glamour.

That's where you actually find yourself.

via-Cricbuzz