Yes, many will be wondering why we are stuck at 7 points from 5 matches when we should have been sitting easily at top with 10 points. The reason-
Batting Powerplay
I do not think that the timing of the powerplay was wrong, both – against England and South Africa. We were excellently placed, had wickets in hand, had the opposition on the mat. If we had played normal cricket in it, we would have driven home our advantage.
The problem lies in our approach. Ours was a case of powerplay being called around 37-43 overs, i.e. just before the death overs, and NOT in the 45-50 slot. Keeping this in mind, let us talk a bit about it.
When two batsmen are already set, they then only need to play normal cricketing shots, with maybe a slog or two per 2 overs. No need to go hell for leather. And the batting team always has to brace for a wicket.
But when the wicket falls and the new batsman comes in, the other batsman who is there should continue playing normal cricket and now, MINUS the slog every 2 overs. No, no need to slog now at all, even if there is a powerplay going on. And of course the new batsman should play as if NO powerplay is going on. It is not that powerplay is being wasted- by calling the powerplay, you already have forced the opposition captain bring on his premier bowlers whom normally he would bowl during the death overs. The thing that is happening is that our batsmen are feeling extremely conscious of the fact that power play is going on- its like they just have to score runs, even if they lose their wicket. No, this shouldn’t be the approach, particularly when PP is NOT called in the death overs.
Now comes the question of who should come if a wicket falls. I am strongly of the opinion that Yusuf Pathan should NOT be sent in PP. Because, if he middles the ball, there is no need of fielding restrictions. And if he doesn’t, then even in PP, there is a strong chance he will be caught. We should follow the batting order only- Kohli, Yuvraj, Dhoni and Pathan. Pathan may come before Dhoni, but certainly not above than that.
As regards as our bowling, I don’t feel there is anything wrong with it. I thought we bowled very decently vs SA. We kept on increasing the pressure ball by ball. Yes- they batted well in their PP, no doubt. And regarding final 2-3 overs, anything can happen. People go gung-ho criticizing our last 2-3 overs, but no one seems to point out that Zak bowled an exceptional over under pressure, giving just 4 runs of the penultimate over. Nehra has got the experience to bowl in death overs, but so has Bhajji- he bowled excellently in 20-20 2007 WC for us. Easy to say in retrospect, but I really felt that Bhajji should have been bowling that over. With left armed Peterson on strike, he no doubt would have gone for the slog sweep, and a strong chance hence, of getting his wicket. Even Du Plessis would have found tough v/s Bhajji as compared to Nehra. So, well, that was a mistake I think. Also there is a strong need to bowl out Munaf earlier. He should be given a prolonged 1st spell I think, because that is when he is at his best.
Some lingering doubts are there regarding our progress, bur it requires a long chain of twisted events to occur-
Ind lose to WI.
Ban bt SA and NED
Eng bt WI by a huge margin.
And rest of results should be sane.This asks for a lot i guess.
So, next up is West Indies where we will no doubt play a MINIMUM of 2 spinners on a hot, baked-up Chennai wicket. Also, I think our toss strategy should be to always chase. In that, we would rid ourselves of any dew effects, avail maximum reverse swing for seamers, turn for our spinners and most importantly, we would know how much we need. With a strong batting line-up, that is most apt according to me. The only con here is increased pressure of chasing. But we need to back our batting lineup to cope with that. Just play around Sachin! That’s all we need to do!!! Yeah I know its not as simple…
Batting Powerplay
I do not think that the timing of the powerplay was wrong, both – against England and South Africa. We were excellently placed, had wickets in hand, had the opposition on the mat. If we had played normal cricket in it, we would have driven home our advantage.
The problem lies in our approach. Ours was a case of powerplay being called around 37-43 overs, i.e. just before the death overs, and NOT in the 45-50 slot. Keeping this in mind, let us talk a bit about it.
When two batsmen are already set, they then only need to play normal cricketing shots, with maybe a slog or two per 2 overs. No need to go hell for leather. And the batting team always has to brace for a wicket.
But when the wicket falls and the new batsman comes in, the other batsman who is there should continue playing normal cricket and now, MINUS the slog every 2 overs. No, no need to slog now at all, even if there is a powerplay going on. And of course the new batsman should play as if NO powerplay is going on. It is not that powerplay is being wasted- by calling the powerplay, you already have forced the opposition captain bring on his premier bowlers whom normally he would bowl during the death overs. The thing that is happening is that our batsmen are feeling extremely conscious of the fact that power play is going on- its like they just have to score runs, even if they lose their wicket. No, this shouldn’t be the approach, particularly when PP is NOT called in the death overs.
Now comes the question of who should come if a wicket falls. I am strongly of the opinion that Yusuf Pathan should NOT be sent in PP. Because, if he middles the ball, there is no need of fielding restrictions. And if he doesn’t, then even in PP, there is a strong chance he will be caught. We should follow the batting order only- Kohli, Yuvraj, Dhoni and Pathan. Pathan may come before Dhoni, but certainly not above than that.
As regards as our bowling, I don’t feel there is anything wrong with it. I thought we bowled very decently vs SA. We kept on increasing the pressure ball by ball. Yes- they batted well in their PP, no doubt. And regarding final 2-3 overs, anything can happen. People go gung-ho criticizing our last 2-3 overs, but no one seems to point out that Zak bowled an exceptional over under pressure, giving just 4 runs of the penultimate over. Nehra has got the experience to bowl in death overs, but so has Bhajji- he bowled excellently in 20-20 2007 WC for us. Easy to say in retrospect, but I really felt that Bhajji should have been bowling that over. With left armed Peterson on strike, he no doubt would have gone for the slog sweep, and a strong chance hence, of getting his wicket. Even Du Plessis would have found tough v/s Bhajji as compared to Nehra. So, well, that was a mistake I think. Also there is a strong need to bowl out Munaf earlier. He should be given a prolonged 1st spell I think, because that is when he is at his best.
Some lingering doubts are there regarding our progress, bur it requires a long chain of twisted events to occur-
Ind lose to WI.
Ban bt SA and NED
Eng bt WI by a huge margin.
And rest of results should be sane.This asks for a lot i guess.
So, next up is West Indies where we will no doubt play a MINIMUM of 2 spinners on a hot, baked-up Chennai wicket. Also, I think our toss strategy should be to always chase. In that, we would rid ourselves of any dew effects, avail maximum reverse swing for seamers, turn for our spinners and most importantly, we would know how much we need. With a strong batting line-up, that is most apt according to me. The only con here is increased pressure of chasing. But we need to back our batting lineup to cope with that. Just play around Sachin! That’s all we need to do!!! Yeah I know its not as simple…
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