The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Versatility is the name of the game

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 07, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Versatility is the name of the game

The game has benefited from innovations, writes Makarand Waingankar

The era of specialists in cricket is over thanks to T20. The cricketers are now expected to be jack of all trades for the duration of 240 balls — contribute in batting, bowling and importantly fielding, which has always been neglected in the sub-continent because of the hard grounds.

Versatility is the name of the new game. Gone are the days when intimidating bowling would terrify the lower half of the Indian batting order. Gone are the days when the Indian captain would protest and declare the innings because of the deadly short stuff.

The present Indian team is in an attacking mode. The team initiates aggression.

The approach to T20 — reading the situation while optimising the resources at the disposal cleverly — necessitates that half the team has to be all-rounders.

It doesn’t matter if only four overs are allocated to a bowler but that has made a player believe that unless he bats and bowls, he will be out of competition.

This has caught the imagination of coaches in maidaans and many of them have been asking the boys to bat and bowl in the nets as well as in matches. No longer do we get to watch the old methods of fielding.

Improvement

The boys are attacking the ball and flicking back to the wicket-keeper. One aspect that has improved considerably is running between the wickets.

Though the cardinal principle of running between the wickets is forgotten at times, by and large the boys have been able to convert one’s into twos.

Again the art of placing balls on either side of a fielder for stealing a single is making batting interesting.

Batting is more innovative. But while doing so the basics are very much in place. Unless basics are mastered, the batsman is like a carpenter without tools.

Tendulkar, Dravid and Kallis have all shown that straight bat shots placed nicely can get you more runs in T20 than wild lofted shots.

Spin has been a revelation in T20. The flight and turn have taken us to the days when Bishen Bedi would, irrespective of the score of the opposition, mesmerise the batsmen in one-dayers. Now spinners are not afraid of flighting the ball. Ojha seems to have realised that overuse of the arm ball will make him more predictable.

Rebirth of yorker

The art of bowling a yorker is reborn with T20. Very rarely did we get to watch yorkers in the longer version of the game.

This allowed the lower order batsmen to wield the long handle at will. Now even spinners bowling in T20 make use of the yorker.

The stiff competition within Indian cricket has made players realise that there has to be consistent performance and for that to happen there has to be constant innovation.

This perhaps may affect their game when they play the longer version but an international cricketer is supposed to adapt at any level.

The performances of old guards in the IPL clearly indicate that if you neglect the fundamentals, performances desert you. It’s the cricketing IQ that is now very important for any player to succeed in any format of the game.

Cricket has surely benefited from these re-inventions.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport