Vinayak Sapre of Insights shares his learnings from cricket and his plans to watch the World Cup finals.
How do you rate India’s chances of winning in this cricket World Cup?
I think India has a very high chance of winning the World Cup 2015. Over the last 4-5 years, we have one of the best ODI teams.
What are your plans to watch World Cup final and semi-finals?
I’ll watch it at a friend’s apartment and for finals we have planned a screening in our housing society. We are going to have a lot of fun.
Have you bunked school, college or office to watch India’s match ever? Any story which you would like to share?
Yes, I have bunked many times. It was relatively easy for me to catch the match since I was in a sales job. Once I told my boss that I am going for a sales call which was very far and I bumped into him in a restaurant where I had gone to watch the match. Thereafter my boss and I watched the entire match together.
Your favourite World Cup moment?
The 1996 World Cup quarter final, India – Pakistan match in Bangalore, when Venkatesh Prasad gave a befitting reply to Aamir Sohail by sending him to pavilion. I also vividly remember Dhoni’s winning six in 2011 World Cup.
Who is your favourite cricketer?
Dhoni and Virat Kohli.
What are the similarities between cricket and investing?
Both cricket and investing require well thought out strategies to achieve results. Both cricket and investing require patience, the right balance of defence & aggression and good temperament.
Which Indian player in the World Cap squad would make the best fund manager?
Unarguably Dhoni. He knows his stocks (players) well and knows when and where to play them. He is shrewd, smart and doesn’t have biases and rarely falls in love with any stock (players) and uses them almost to the perfection.
What have you learned from cricket?
· Patience from Test cricket
· Aggression from 50 overs and T 20
· Be flexible and experiment. Nowadays players improvise a lot by experimenting both in bowling and batting. Lot of new styles have emerged. For instance, in bowling, reverse swing, slower balls, slow bouncers, doosra, carrom ball etc; in batting, reverse sweep, upper cut, dilscoop etc.
