What worked in the match:
a) Bakirs/Paddu/Nitin bowling
b) Swapps/Manish's batting
that was pretty much it.. we got brilliant in patches and thats what pulled us through - great for stories that you want to tell your grandson, but not really something that signals 'champions' - it reminds me of the indian team 8 years ago - brilliant on thier day, perenially slotted as the dark horses..
None of this takes away from what was a brilliant effort from the guys above.. but.. post the hi-fives and chest thumping its given me a lot to think about...
a) Why do we let teams slip just when we are on top?
b) Why cant we just stay calm and not scream at each other? (fine, i am exagerating this one a wee bit)
c) Why cant we let the captain do his job?
some of these are intertwined questions, and have answers far above my mere division 4 understanding... but ill put down 5 things we should do from now on..
- The captain decides the field, if you as a bowler dont like it, talk to him after the match. If you feel strongly, talk to him once, thats all. As a fieldsman, if the cap tells u to stay somewhere - stay there - you may be right, but back ur captain up for now
- If things start to slip, lets take a min and think, far too often we let things slide and dont think about what is going wrong. This time as well, between the 25/3 and 98/7, we got walloped purely because we didnt keep the hitter off strike.
- A little similar to 3, i dont think we are thinking enough about how to play the batsman, who is the guy you want to give a single to? who is the guy you want hitting you? does the guy who is sweeping look like he will hit to cover? Who is our best bowler when you need to get out a belter?
- On the batting order, Paddu shouldnt be opening, we have seen time and again, for this team, a fast start is useless if we crack at no. 5/6. We need Paddu to be at 5.
- We need some1 to step up to open.. My call is Sriram and Sudhakar (Esh when he is around). Ganji needs to go at a time when the ball doesnt swing (umm maybe 3/6?). Maybe see if Ashwin can open? If sriram isnt there, id see if venky can open, he has the most awesome long hits!
1 comment:
Some good points here.....I think the algo to win the game here is doing it the good old fashioned way - first 30 mins to the bowlers, best batter in when the ball stops doing anything, keep wickets in hand and then boom at the end. Same formula if you bat first or chase. Its a longer version and as i see it, if you dont get out in the first 10 overs, as a bowler its bloody damn hard to get anyone out. That said, we'll trust in the captain and since we have made a call - we should give this strategy 4-5 games atleast in ernest. So, lets support the captain here - as the Mumbai Ranji team keep saying - "AKAK" - apna kaam achcha karo (do your own role well and the captain will take care of the rest).
Another piece of gyaan - as Justin Langer says in his book , the Aussies would focus on 3 important things esp in tough situations - PATIENCE, PARTNERSHIPS and PRESSURE. I think we are really doing the latter two really well and if the top 5batters can show some patience, we should have a decent run.
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