Started this note last night after listening to cacophony on the news channels about how India have dug themselves into a hole in the T20 World Cup.
As far as the use of the short ball is concerned, the strategy was not a shock. Steyn, Kallis and Nannes amongst others, were using them regularly against Indian batsmen in the league with some success. The deficiency is an old one, and is compounded by the fact that batsmen generally prop themselves on the front foot before the ball is delivered, in this format of the game.
And as far as the bowlers go, they don’t really look to bounce, but put the ball in that area which is marginally shorter than the ‘back of a length’ spot. Which means the ball reaches the batsman at the chest or the throat level. Add to this the fact that the front foot movement shortens the distance the ball has to travel, and you have a problem on your hands. Also, unlike a Test match situation where the batsman is not looking to attack every ball, here the backlifts are bound to be higher.
So where’s the remedy? It is now a well-publicised fact that all batsmen at the top level practise against bowling machines to get used to the speed. It is good, but the machine doesn’t have the cunning of the bowler, the false field adjustment and the pressure of the situation.
My mind went back a few years when I had the pleasure of shooting a commercial with the former Indian quick, Javagal Srinath. An erudite man, Srinath was soft-spoken and curious (about film-making techniques), and pretty strong in his views.
He got very excited when I shared with him a proposal that I was putting together to present to large corporates. It was about equipping every major Test venue in India (the ones with some real estate to spare) and the national Cricket Academy with facilities for drop-in wickets. The way it was, it looked at replicating wickets in countries from across the world. Theoretically, it is possible to ‘manufacture’ a Perth track from the mid-seventies, or a Headingley grasstop.
We exchanged mails for a period of three months while I spoke to a few of my clients who had the money to spare and a bit of passion for cricket. Sadly, none of them wanted to take it further up the organisation, as it was not backed by big media coverage.
Let’s face it – this scheme is a long-term one and does not have cheerleaders shaking parts of their anatomy and bright uniforms. This does not have that little whiff of potential controversy for news channels to pick up. It remains a dream for me.
On another note, around six years ago, there was a programme on Zee Sports where Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi was the resident expert in a conversation on the ‘short ball’ topic. I had called in to ask him about a batting academy, on the lines of the MRF Pace Foundation. The Nawab drawled that all it needed was batsmen going to the pace academy and playing the bowlers there.
Now the pace academy is for bowlers to perfect their craft. Imagine a scenario where a batsmen gets into a net to get his hook shot going. And the bowler being told by Dennis Lillee and T.A.Shekhar to work on his outswinger.
Unwilling corporates, a callous expert and a dream that is destined to gather dust. And another generation of Indian batsmen squaring up against a short ball and fending it into a waiting gully fielder’s hands.
Guess that’s the way Indian cricket will be.
This article has been contributed by Nandu Narasimhan (catch him @ http://www.facebook.com/nandu.narasimhan)
© Shailesh Nigam, Varun Khanna (for respective articles)
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