Abdullah Shahzad
iSporter Aswath ponders on the mystery of 'batting powerplay' and feels that it's creating havoc. Do you feel so too?
A certain phenomenon called the 'batting powerplay' is creating havoc. It was intended to anyway; bring down the bowlers further; however, it turns out to be a boon for the fielding Captain sometimes. The league game between India and England at Bengaluru was a prime example of that.
Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell were going strong, getting a boundary almost every over, and then succumbed to the pressure of the batting powerplay. They chose to take it, in anticipation of advancing dinner time by a few minutes, but the decision almost proved to be fatal for them.
When two batsmen are going strong in the middle overs; it is usually by means of constantly rotating strike, working the ball into the gaps and hitting the odd boundary. It is by no means easy for them to shift suddenly from second gear into top gear. Try doing this to your car often and you could end up in the mechanic shop very soon.
Then when exactly do you take the batting powerplay? It is a mystery, and I shall try and find a few possible pointers.
The approach to the game is the key here. The top four batsmen in a side are accustomed to playing in the powerplay overs. The openers are the best suited for it - one would suppose - as they would be preparing to face the most part of the first 10 to 15 overs of their innings to set up a good foundation for their team.
The first 10 overs are mandatory powerplay overs. The fielding captain usually takes the bowling powerplay immediately after, to get rid of it, unless the batsmen in the middle are going hammer and tongs. If the batsmen are really playing well and the fielding captain does not take a powerplay, the batting side still has the option to opt for theirs.
This is a crucial juncture. The batting side could well take their powerplay from overs 16-20 (assuming the previous five overs have also been powerplay overs) if they are finding the gaps with ease and not more than a wicket (or sometimes two, depending on the game situation) down.
The reasons are aplenty. First, the batsmen have been out in the middle for long enough and can carry on the momentum. The fielding captain usually saves his best bowlers for the batting powerplay. By taking it in the 16th over, chances are that the opening bowlers are tired and the fielding captain has only one top bowler to bowl in these overs. By doing so, they would also be exhausting a good bowler's overs early in the game.
Overs 20-40 are usually those of consolidation and unless the situation really demands, the batting captain refrains from taking the powerplay. Things are changing with the advent of T20 alright, but the principles of batting remain the same. You could try hitting the ball into the stands, but piercing the field is a different proposition altogether. After all, it is better to see a ball hit the ropes than a spectator, right? More often than not, it plays too much on the mind of the batting captain not knowing when exactly to take it. And of course, there is no one right answer.
In the league game between England and Ireland, Kevin O' Brien took it more out of force than out of choice as the required run rate was getting too far out of control. And what a decision it turned out to be. It made him a national hero.
During the slog overs, the approach of the batting side is going to be just one; see the ball and swing hard. Does the approach change if a powerplay is on? Not much.
If a powerplay is on and the fine leg and third man are inside the circle (which I assume would be the case more often than not, especially in a powerplay in the slog overs), the batsmen in the middle could probably try something out of the ordinary to get a boundary behind the wicket and lose their wicket in the process. It could prove to be detrimental to their side's batting.
There are many angles to analyzing the batting powerplay and these are just a few. It depends on how well set the two batsmen out in the middle are and other assumptions. But if you were doing it in the first 15 overs earlier, what is wrong in extending the agony for the bowlers for another 5 overs immediately?
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