India vs South Africa: Extra man leaves deep impact
With wobbly knees and a paunch that hinted proudly of fun evenings, Ravi Shastri overseered MS Dhoni’s batting practice on Wednesday. In the throwdown wing of the nets that was sandwiched between fast bowlers and spinners’ nets, balls were fired short at his body. At times Dhoni went for the pull, often he tried to side-step to the leg side and get the upper cut going. At the end of the stint, Shastri sidled up alongside Dhoni and was seen mimicking the cut and the pull.
They aren’t two shots that Dhoni usually plays. Not that he can’t pull but he wasn’t required to unfurl it much in limited-overs cricket in recent times. The new rules in ODI cricket, especially the extra fifth fielder in the final 10 overs, are living up to its aim of making the batsmen sweat a bit more. That extra fielder now stands at deep midwicket, and a bowler standing at the top of his run-up can also see the fine-leg near the boundary. One hasn’t been pulled in to accommodate the other and the result is a more confident pacer. He can now bang it in at the body and the batsman can’t just get it over midwicket with a weak pull or send it flying over short fine with a lap shot. He now has to get the proper fiercely hit pull to clear the man at the deep, and that takes a lot of courage that can only come from immense confidence in his skill. One shot that could either get you a six or get you out. Who has the courage to repeatedly go for it and in a tense match situation at that? No wonder Dhoni was also seen practising the shuffle-to-leg-and-paddle option, which in reality would be really tough to pull off. It’s amazing. anda lot of fun, to see what difference can one extra fielder, one extra man prowling the boundary, has done to these mollycoddled batsmen.
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For the South Africans, the new rule has meant the likes of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, who have been pummeled in the Indian conditions in the IPL by lesser batsmen than Dhoni, can now breathe easier. Especially, someone like Morkel can now hit his natural back-of-length without having to worry about being manoeuvred for a four on the leg side. Forget the easy four, he can now hit that length to harass batsmen, and force errors. Steyn nailed it on Wednesday in the press conference. “There’s no easier ball to hit in these conditions than the overpitched balls. If you can use the bouncer, slower bouncer or the cutters, it’s difficult to hit over the boundary. In the World Cup, we couldn’t have that guy out. Batsmen could cut or play a paddle behind the wicket but now, you’re left with only one shot. You have to have a big slog over mid-wicket. With the guy out there, it’s either six or out. It’s a big risk.”
A respite for bowlers, fans
The new rules have thankfully come just in nick of time as watching the 50-over ODIs had turned out to be a big bore. The end overs were leaking runs and the middle overs which would finish off with a batting powerplay induced yawns. Now we have a semi-contest on our hands even on flat tracks. And India is yet to figure out a way to counter the new rules. They will do well to start looking at the middle overs with greater purpose. The ones from 11 to 40, and 30 to 40 in particular, should be used more productively. The time to coast is gone.
The interesting thing about say 25-40 overs is that the ball starts to get soft as well, and it’s not easy to pull out the big shots so easily in these conditions. The new rule is almost made for someone like Dhoni the preserver rather than the aggressor — push through gaps, run hard for those twos, and keep manoeuvring the field. Or as Styen says, you need to be AB de Villiers and use those crazy shots to work the angles and put the pressure back on the bowlers. Someone like Suresh Raina should actually use the new fielding restrictions to push and punch instead of holing out with panicky-hits but easier said than done.
It’s almost laughable that the batsmen-friendly rules of the recent past had created such bad habits in batsmen that playing conventionally- looking for gaps and running hard – looks so tough in the here and now. Harbhajan Singh, who has played prior to those silly rules that threatened to kill ODIs, placed it in the right context. “I have been playing under this new rule (five fielders outside the circle) all my life and batsmen have scored runs in the past. We just need to be smarter.” He defined smartness as the ability to “rotate strike” and looking for the “odd boundary”.
There have been other changes as well that have further leveled the playing field. Previously, in the first 10 overs, the two fielders required to be positioned within 15-yards as catchers. Now, if the situation demands a more defensive field, or if the fielding captain thinks having those two fielders at the edge of the 30-yard circle can create more pressure and induce more errors from batsmen looking to break away, he can position him accordingly. It can bring in spinners more into the game with the new ball itself, if the captain desires, or of course, with the extra man out, in the end overs as well.
Considering India are 1-2 down, and if you believe the whispers at Chepauk, the pitch might have some bounce in it; nothing venomous as its still supposed to be a flat track but if there is any bit of bounce in it, then the South African pacers are best placed to exploit it. If India were to level the series, they will have to start taking their first step towards coming to terms with the new rules. Until then, Shastri will have to bear the heat, and have a close hard look at the batsmen in the nets sessions.
