Khela, Karma, and Nāyaka: Reinterpreting Leadership in Indian Cricket through Indian Knowledge Systems
Khela, Karma, and Nāyaka: Reinterpreting Leadership in Indian Cricket through Indian Knowledge Systems
Ananya Pratap Singh, Subhalaxmi Prusty, Jayashree Aanand Gajjam
Abstract
Sports and games (krīḍā/khela) have served not merely as forms of recreation or a pastime but as vital means for
holistic personality development since time immemorial. Within this framework, Sports Leadership emerges as a pivotal
construct encompassing the physical, mental, emotional, ethical, and aesthetic dimensions of human flourishing. This
paper critically explores sports leadership in Indian cricket through the lens of Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS), a
domain largely interpreted through predominantly Western leadership frameworks. By addressing the conceptual
limitations of contemporary sports leadership discourse, wherein Sports Leadership is often reduced to managerial
styles, the study foregrounds its deeper ethical, cultural and performative dimensions rooted in Bhāratīya thought.
Adopting interpretive and interdisciplinary methodologies, the study examines the leadership styles of the three World
Cup-winning Indian captains, viz., Kapil Dev, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and Harmanpreet Kaur through the conceptual
triad of Khela (krīḍā), Karma (action), and Nāyaka (a guiding leader). Drawing upon the ethical and strategic insights of
Mahābhārata, Rāmāyaṇa, and Bhagavad Gītā, the study exemplifies leadership as both a strategy and a form of lived
performance or praxis by blending the aesthetic and ethical enactments marked by dharma, samatva, dhṛti, and niṣṭhā
for loka-saṅgraha, wherein action, wisdom, and responsibility converge within a larger ethos of collective harmony and
human flourishing.
Keywords: Cricket World Cup, Indian Cricket, Indian Knowledge Systems, Nāyaka, Sports Leadership.