The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Exposing serious technical issues

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 02, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Exposing serious technical issues

Master all the rules before bending them, writes Makarand Waingankar

SMART OPERATOR: The key to Virender Sehwag’s success in different formats of the game is due to his acceptance of his limitations.

Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam has urged his team to get into Test cricket mode because a player is known by his performances in Tests.

Cricket is more of a mental sport. And unless adjustments are made in the approach to the game, the T20 brand of cricket will continue to confuse the players.

To an extent the T20 has helped bowlers more than batsmen in being accurate in whatever varieties they have been trying.

Conversely the mental make-up of batsmen to take the aerial route has caused serious technical issues which will be exposed in Tests and 50-over cricket.

Virender Sehwag is an ideal case study of how to adjust to different formats of the game. The key to his success is his acceptance of his limitations.

He knows his range of shots and for those to be effectively implemented he has to bisect the fielders. His head is still which is a hallmark of a good batsman and moves enough to be in perfect position.

This can’t be said of young Rohit Sharma who bats like a millionaire stroking the ball at will when in the mood.

Sharma seems to use his talent to attack the bowlers on both the flanks. But a small technical flaw is creeping in against the short ball and outswing.

Yuvraj Singh is a different player. When he gets going, there is no batsman in the world who can entertain the viewers as much as he can, but he too has realised that knowing one’s off stump is the most important tenet of batsmanship especially when there are no field restrictions.

Watching the DVDs of Sir Garfield Sobers has motivated him and he is making an effort to play some shots of the West Indian legend.

He has definitely worked on his on-drive without losing his body balance. The problem with some of the young Indian batsmen is that they are neglecting the importance of footwork. Whether while hooking or playing a drive on the off-side, Indians are guilty of not positioning them properly.

The T20 World Championship exposed the age old weakness of not negotiating the short ball confidently. Cricketing intelligence backed by right technique more than stupid aggression is very important when dealing with a bouncer.

Naturally fast bowlers all over the world have noticed this flaw and will keep bouncing at the Indian batsmen. It is difficult to fathom why an experienced opening batsman like Gary Kirsten is unable to rectify this major fault.

Gambhir, Sharma, Yusuf Pathan and Jadeja are now on the radar of the international fast bowlers.

Indian batsmen will continue to struggle and even mediocre Bangladeshi medium-pacers will try to bounce them. As they say, master all the rules before you decide to bend them.

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

Sport