What?s common between a game of bridge and running the largest truck-making corporation in India? For starters, both warrant a fair bit of appetite for calculated risks. You can?t do without a keen sense of opportunity and timing. Then there are the dealers to deal with?for cards as well as for a fleet of trucks. Above all, the automotive market is just as unforgiving for the casual operator as a lead out of turn.

Survival then, is a function of trusted partnerships across the table and across borders. To excel, you need to be at the helm of affairs with foresight and be loaded with experience.

Prakash M Telang (earlier executive director, commercial vehicles), will certainly need all the panache as he takes over the mantle of Tata Motors managing director from the much-respected Ravi Kant, who will continue as non-executive vice-chairman.

But assuming leadership comes naturally to Telang, 61. The IIM graduate has served Tata Motors in several capacities for over the last 37 years and was tipped to take over the position for quite some time now.

He continues to serve as chairman of HV Transmissions and as a non-executive independent director of Automobile Corporation of Goa, which assembles Hispano Carrocera?s premium inter-city coaches for Tata Motors. He is also on the boards of Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Company, Tata Motors (Thailand), Telco Construction Equipment Company, and the company?s joint venture company with Fiat India Automobiles.

The company watchers say his team was single-handedly responsible for realising the key takeaways from the Daewoo Commercial Vehicles acquisition and applying them to his pet project, the World Truck Platform, which he proudly unveiled late last month.

He is indeed, a reputable truck-man, who knows his role in an organisation that was growing exponentially. At the World Truck unveiling, an otherwise media-shy Telang spoke for the first time since he was anointed MD, India operations of Tata Motors. ?Small is beautiful but the big boys don?t want to stay far behind,? he remarked (on the Nano and the World Truck) as he addressed a gathering comprising chairman Ratan N Tata, fellow directors, hordes of employees and a congregation of national and international motoring journalists.

He had announced his arrival, with his usual flair for subtlety. While Telang has carefully nurtured the behind-the-scenes-guy image, a section of the media often speculated about his role in the organisation and the way ahead for him.

He comes in at a time when the mood is sombre at Bombay House?Tata Motors posted a whopping decline of 50% in its net profit last fiscal on the back of severe demand slide and high interest charges on borrowings. The net profit was Rs 1,001.26 crore for the year ended March 31, 2009, against Rs 2,028.92 crore for the year ended March 31, 2008. Debt financing is likely to eat into margins for years and you don?t need a degree rocket science to predict the impact. That despite the relentless optimism he demonstrated before journalists during the announcement of FY 2009 results.

In fact, every player in the market is feeling the heat as truck sales have deteriorated sharply due to the unwillingness among Indian companies to replace their fleet in the present market conditions.

But Telang is accustomed to turnarounds. And while he loves his bridge, it?ll be a while before gets to unwind with a pack of cards.