Cricket needs specialists
One-Day cricket is evolving and with lot of amendments in the rules each, time has come that teams make the necessary adjustments needed not just to survive to thrive. Well if they don't prepare well in advance they will have to learn the hard way.
The new rule of 4 fielders outside the 30 yards circle during the non-power play overs along 2 new balls from each end have prompted teams to get away with part-times and invest more in the specialists. Of-course all these rules are more in the favor of the batsman piling more runs, two bouncers per over is the only solace pacers have. This leaves part-timers hanging in the mid air. In the hindsight it encourages spinners to be more attacking with their field placements with one more fielder either around the bat or close in catching. Imagine this off-spinner blowing with mid-off or leg spinner with mid-in, no easy single available for couple of balls and batsman gets bogged down and a big shot on the way. This translate to fun; either wicket or a boundary or big shot.
This also tests the captains ability to manipulate his fielders and this brings more excitement and new dimension to the game. Now we just can't have a part-timer bowling with having both long off and long on back, or having both deep point and deep backward square leg or having both fine leg and third-man back. So we now have only 4 players patrolling 6 field positions instead of 5. And with 5 inside the ring means no easy singles available at the batsman's disposal, so the game gets more cerebral more like a chess board.
Possible approaches captains could use is a genuine specialists to each of the 3 roles that opened up.
a. swing bowlers to make use of the 2 new balls while its hard & shinny,
b. quality spinners to build pressure on the batman and bog them down,
c. finally have death bowlers who would focus on hitting the block hole more frequently.
Sri Lanka have already start of pretty well using Kulasekara and Mathews to open as swing bowlers, spinners/medium pacers for the mid-overs and Malinga for the death. I only can hope that INDIA can go with this formula and succeed one day because with the current bowling line up depending too much on part-timers to get them out of the hole seems like a recipe for disaster.
Rotation by choice vs Rotation by lack of it
In software industry there is something called resource management where they manage the work load of its engineers so that they don't burn out. They do this by some sort of rotation with in the company. They are either moved to a different team which has less load which gives them breathing space & also a different perspective about the product. This is a win-win situation for both the employee and the employer as the employee gets the knowledge about the breath of the company and the employer has it more people who are versatile.
In the ongoing AUS vs SL series we saw lot of new faces getting a go for both AUS and SL. While AUS choose to rest some of its players, SL were left with no choice but replace it's injured players. Though Australia learnt the rest-rotate policy the hard way when it's first string of fast-bowlers were injured right towards the end of the test series. So as a lesson it rested some of its batsmen anticipating heavy work load ahead. This also gave some of it's uncapped players chance to prove their worth and some clasped it with both their hands. As a result now Australia has bigger pool of batsman who have the ability to convert energy from potential to kinetic.
Back to the original problem what INDIA is facing, we have far too many players with potential energy waiting to give their kinetic kick. The biggest problem is that INDIA only plays their potential players when either we have a dead rubber or when our arse is on fire. Its always some sort of response-to-external-stimulus which is mostly from media.
So instead of just being reactive why not create a pool of players and give them fixed no of opportunities and judge their true kinetic energy. Say in a 5 match series rest a few overloaded players and feed a new breed and see how they react. This way you have rested some sore muscles and worked up some new muscles isn't it how you work out ? Rahane only got his chance when Sandeep Patil come into power, Sehwag was dropped and Sachin finally retired.
Same would be true with bowling right now Ashwin is having a lose-connection in his circuit. Right at he point of release he stops as if current is cut-off and then delivers. He has moved from being the wickets taker to run stopper to run-bearer. Why not try Ojha or some fresh spinner and see how he performs against England in INDIA which might Ashwin to fix his lose-connection. Fast-bowler in INDIA are following Shane Bond's injury routine they breakup far too quickly and gone for too long. One more year and we will forget who Praveen Kumar, I already hear who?
And whats up with Dhoni going for cent percent attendance, is he seeking for bonus points for attending all matches? With IPL looming around doesn't his body need the necessary rest and so who is our back up keeper? Can we learn from what happened to SL, 1st and 2nd keeper both injured.
Right now INDIAN cricket is in a open book exam situation, answers are present just needs a proper index to find it. Hope this serves as an Index.
My Name is Jadduu
My name is Ravindra Jadeja, people fondly call me Jaddu but I would like to be called Mr Utility, because that is all I can do. If you ask any kid on the street what do u do in cricket ? He will answer I can bat and ball, same is the answer with me. I can neither win a match on my own with batting nor with my bowling. In INDIA I am the official all-rounder because I am a part-time bowler and part-time batsman. I am like the grad student who gets his tuition fees paid with half RA & half TA.
I scored 2 triple hundreds in a span of 2 weeks in our first class season, selectors thought I was some sort of cheaper version of a Pujara or a VVS and they roped into the Test team to bolster the batting and what I do is pick wickets ahead of the two front line spinners and bowl a very meager spell. I could be the new Kumble of spin or lack of it; some beat the batsman with flight and some with viscous spin but I beat with lack of spin. So you can call me left arm darts, but I know I have a long way to go and sorry uncle for for comparing with you.
And that's not the only problem I come with, nobody really knows what is my best batting position is. Every left-hander has a favorite shot that he is master at, Gauti has that square cut, UV has that big booming cover drive and Raina has the close your eyes and hit over the mid-wicket. I don't have the technique to bat up the order nor do I have the power to whack around in the end. I run well between the wickets but it is proportional to the no of ball I can face. I can neither play bouncer nor spin and lets not talk about pace please it's too fast. But I have won matches for Rajastan Royal over years, I need to look at what I really did well there.
Yes! I am a good T20 club league player where half no of players are of my league & I can excel. I was doing well with Royals, Warne uncle was very kind to me I got batting and bowling in all the games. Things got a better when I was moved to Kochi I was kind of their best player for a while. But all these money minded uncles played some cheap politics and took away my batting and bowling. They closed Kochi Tuskers.
I don't know what stone or ring I wore my fate changed and Srini uncle bought be for 2M + some under table money all in Dollars. But they didn't increase my salary; this is cheating man. In CSK I am proud to wear the yellow jersey but I don't get to bat or bowl its pretty boring man only fielding, Dhoni has so many players to play with that he forgets about me.
When every body plays well I don't get to bat or bowl too much, but when the top order fails they expect me to play and show my skill. See what they did in Kolkatta, I bowled well and took 3 wickets and when batting collapsed I had a good chance like Dhoni to play full 50 of batting, but sorry I couldn't make use of it. I will take inspiration from my beloved captain and get full batting next time.
I think I spoke too much good bye guys, this is my official letter. Atleast I wrote a letter to all not like Raina who put something bad on twitter and blamed his nephew.
