Teams exposed by batting Powerplay

The concept of the Free Hit doesn't seem to have caught on with the Vadodara crowd. In the 21st over of the Australian innings, when Ishant Sharma bowled a no-ball, the next delivery, short and wide, was upper-cut by Cameron White, and was caught pretty well at sweeper cover by Harbhajan Singh. Harbhajan then tried to get the ball back as soon as possible, but the crowd behind him went delirious. They looked confused when White scampered through for a couple. Would you blame them, though, when you see the teams, with laptops, coaches, and consultants to help them out, still haven't come to terms with another new concept - the batting Powerplay - as we saw today?

When Australia took their Powerplay, in the 43rd over, both Michael Hussey and White were well set, having started scoring at more than a run a ball without much trouble, and Australia looked good for a score in the region of 325. White then perished off just the second delivery of the fielding restrictions. Australia collected 33 runs in those five overs, lost three wickets, and ended up with 292.

India went for their license to kill in the 35th over, right after the mandatory ball change, to ensure they didn't waste the Powerplay on the soft ball - one that can cause a few tricks if maintained well by the fielding side. India needed 126 from 96 balls. Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni had added 64 and looked good to bring the equation in their favour. Gambhir went first ball, and soon after, India lost Suresh Raina, and then Dhoni rather unnecessarily, trying to clear mid-on while the field was still up.

When the freak partnership between Harbhajan Singh and Praveen Kumar - and what a partnership it was - took India close, it was clear that the real difference between the teams on the day was the Powerplay, as to which team made a bigger mess of it. The numbers are similar. Australia managed 33 for 3 in the those five overs, while India made 32 for 3. India's misadventure, though, left a lot to do for the lower order, hard as Harbhajan and Praveen tried.

The Powerplay is a dynamic innovation. Batsmen find it hard to resist adventurous shots with the field up. Captains are, time and again, thrown out of their comfort zones. When you ask for something, you better use it. And it's fair to say that more often than not, teams have erred in both aspects. One can almost sense the captains resisting this set of restrictive overs, because it interferes with the flow of their innings. Why, otherwise, would we see most teams going for it in the last 10 overs, when they are anyway going to be adventurous?

Take Australia's example. They could have easily opted for it when Dhoni, already struggling to get through his main bowlers' quotas, introduced Ravindra Jadeja. Australia were 91 for 1 in 17 overs then, and would have delayed the introduction of spin by five overs had they taken the Powerplay. That would have meant the fifth bowler would have had to bowl ten out of the last 28 overs, as opposed to 33. Sachin Tendulkar did exactly that in Christchurch during his 163 not out earlier this year, when the fifth bowler, offspinner Jeetan Patel, was introduced. India were 121 for 2 after 21 overs then, similar to Australia's position today. India blazed 69 in the next five overs. Patel managed only five overs that day, conceding 37, but the bowler who completed the fifth-bowler quota, Jesse Ryder, leaked 56.

Tendulkar's use of the Powerplay remains the only masterpiece out-of-the-box employment of this resource that comes to mind. Teams have tended to show complete disregard for this attempt by the ICC to make the middle overs more dynamic. But that's not where the trouble ends. The batsmen, too, react in a funny manner once the field comes up. They suddenly feel obliged to shift the momentum, against their will.

Ricky Ponting knows it's a problem with his side, currently the best in ODIs. "We have been guilty of it in the last few games that we have played," Ponting said. "When we target our Powerplay, we have generally lost a wicket in the first over. We lost one to the second ball of our Powerplay, India lost one first ball, so as soon as you lose wickets in a Powerplay, it slows you right down and almost makes the Powerplay irrelevant."

Ponting attributes this to the mindset of the batsmen in the middle. "Once the field comes in, you think you have to hit a six every ball," he said. "If you still play normal cricket shots, like you do in Test matches, you can still hit the ball through the field and it travels pretty quickly. Quite often you bat through a one-day innings with the field in, but you put a little bit more pressure on yourself when it's your Powerplay. You have got to get it right because it's going to cost you games pretty quickly as we saw today."

Dhoni seems to have specialists chalked out for Powerplay situations. "It depends on who you are batting with, as each and every one has a role in the side," Dhoni said. "If you are batting with Yuvraj Singh, then you don't take too many risks because it is Yuvraj who does it. If the batsman at the other end is not really a big striker of the ball and if I am in, then I would like to take the strike more."

But risks have to be taken, as Dhoni did today. Raina's case was even more compelling because he walked in with 29 Powerplay deliveries left. What does a new batsman do in case his team loses a wicket early in the Powerplay? It's almost like opening an innings, the difference being that the ball isn't as hard and that the restrictive overs are fast running out of hand.

This is where Ponting's view comes into play: why not play normal cricket? The better batsmen are more likely to be around in the middle overs than in the last 10. Having said that, they wouldn't want the flow to be interrupted by taking risks. It's a vicious circle that has led to improper use of the tool. With time, captains might become bolder and batsmen more used to the idea. But until then, captains will continue to find themselves in tangles over how to use the Powerplay. The ICC's cricket committee must be chuckling.