Pace-oriented team strategies could backfire
Feb. 12: Batsmen will be licking their lips. For the next one-and-a-half months, deliveries are unlikely to bounce higher than their waist — if they do they’ll be innocuous enough. Quicker ones will dramatically slow down by the time it reaches them. And if there is, by any chance, something on offer, there’s nothing that a shuffle followed by an on-the-up shot can’t fix.
Sides have come to India for the World Cup packed with top-order strokemakers knowing fully well what is on offer. The slow and low nature of the pitches in the sub-continent means there is going to be little or no help for both fast bowlers or spinners who lack accuracy and variety.
For teams relying solely on fast bowling strength, the challenges are multiple. Australia bank on three pacers who can easily clock over 145 kmph — Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Tait. South Africa have Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel while Windies have Kemar Roach and Andre Russell who can do the same.
The idea is to use express pace to scare the opposition batsmen into making mistakes. “We can all bowl at between 140 and 150. Tait and Lee can even bowl over that. No one really is too keen on facing anything like that.” said Johnson on Saturday.
The defending champions are, however, banking on a tactic that can backfire very quickly if lines go awry.
On Australia’s previous tour to India, it was Shane Watson who was far more successful than Johnson and Co., bowling from wide of the crease and managing to generate often unplayable angles.
Unlike the Aussies, India do not have the luxury to rely on pace, but the hosts’ pace attack could still be more than a handful. Zaheer Khan can generate swing — conventional and reverse — that can be very effective under lights.
Munaf Patel has sacrificed pace for accuracy and now bowls bullet- straight deliveries that often vary in pace. According to him, he has three slower balls which he disguises very well. This makes him almost impossible to hit sometimes.
Still, in these conditions, the safest bet is spin. In the 1996 World Cup, also in the sub-continent, four of the top six wicket-takers were spinners. Anil Kumble led the pack with 15 wickets while fellow tweakers Paul Strang (Zimbabwe), Roger Harper (West Indies) and Shane Warne (Australia) bagged 12 wickets each.
South Africa, despite boasting of one of the best pace attacks, have gone on with as many as five spinners in the squad, even more than India — a massive change from their traditional pace-oriented strategy Right-arm off-break Johan Botha will spearhead the Proteas’ campaign officially, but their main weapon is likely to be Pak-born leg-spinner Imran Tahir.
Kept under wraps by skipper Grame Smith in international cricket , he has taken a truck-load of wickets on the domestic circuit. It’s his variety — two googlies, two unique flippers and one regular leg-spin ball — that could make him a tough bowler to put away.
He’ll have competition from proven match-winners like Muttiah Muralitharan and Harbhajan Singh though. Their outstanding record in the sub-continent itself make India and Lanka Cup favourites.
Post new comment