A self-confessed test cricket addict, Hariharan Iyer, is a corporate and leadership trainer. He also is the founder of HSSE (Hariharan’s School of Success Education), a school that specialises in learning and development.
His book, Off Stump: Life and Management Lessons from Cricket, is an amalgamation of principles of cricket and leadership. He believes that knowing where the off-stump is as important in life as it is in a test match. “Test cricket mirrors life. A typical test match has all the drama that we go through in life,” says Iyer. “That’s how the idea came that I can actually write a book on how it how cricket can teach us a lot about life and success.”
‘The cricket is a game of so many constantly fluctuating variables.’ (sic) He writes this in the chapter The real test is test cricket.
Iyer believes that it is the five-day format that defines and influences more than the other formats. He agrees that the test cricket is all about endurance and the shorter format is all about entertainment. ‘It is often seen, especially in the test match arena, that talent can get you going only so much. To survive and thrive at the top, you need whole some KASH – Knowledge, Attiutude, Skills and Habits.’ (sic) He goes on to explain the importance of each point with examples of cricket.
The title remains to be intriguing. “Off stump idea comes from the fact that they keep on telling in Test cricket that you should know where your off stump is. It defines the boundaries and opportunities. So, I just picked on that. That is more from a technical point of view, but I correlated it with life,” Iyer elucidates. “Typically, in cricket what happens is if I do not know where my off stump is, I would chase deliveries outside and get out in the process — catch in slips or if I am not aware of where my off stump is, I might be LBW or clean bold also.”
Iyer takes the terminology forward and says, “It is a metaphor. So metaphorically I should know where my off stump is. While in cricket off stump is static, in person it varies from person to person. But I should know where my off stump is and I should be able to define the boundaries of my own existence — I should know my zone and what are my strengths and what are my limitations within the zone.”
In the Curtain Raiser, Iyer introduces the cricket terminology to the uninitiated. This makes it easier to understand the chapters in the book.
In an interesting chapter, Where Individuals Merge With Teams, he explains how individuality and team spirit both play a role in life and cricket. ‘The I in us is what keeps us going. It enables us to keep trying harder, but what keeps us in the game is also US.’ (sic)
This and many such things make this book by Iyer a good read for those searching for a different self-help book and/or cricket lovers.
Book: Off Stump: Life and Management Lessons from Cricket
Author: Hariharan Iyer
Publisher: Writers Choice
Pages: 136
Price: Rs 395
