After the deluge

In the recently concluded Test series between India and Sri Lanka, the team batting first invariably put a big score on the board. The tracks were flat and the team winning the toss chose to bat first. While batting first on a flat track is an opportunity to cash in, it's not so easy to score on the same surface after the opposition has put up a score in excess of 600.

Big runs in the first innings give the batting team the advantage for a couple of reasons. One: to achieve that mammoth score you must bat for at least five sessions, which means the batsmen on the fielding side will be tired when it's their turn to bat. Second: the track, however flat it was at the start of the match, will deteriorate somewhat over those two days.

Let's try to get into the batsmen's minds while they wait for their turn to bat.

Once the opposition has won the toss and elected to bat, the batsmen in the fielding side switch off mentally. On flat tracks you don't think in terms of sessions but days; you'll seldom be required to bat after just a session or two.

Every now and then you tend to think about how you would have played on such a track and how unfortunate you are not to bat first. After that momentary indulgence in self-pity you get back to the game and try to keep yourself entertained. You egg your team-mates on and put some extra effort into making the day interesting and helping the team.

Then comes a time when the opposition are about seven or eight wickets down, having put up a huge score. One of my seniors, the late Raman (Lamba) bhaiya once told me that batsmen, especially openers, must stop chatting and cheering after the fall of the eighth wicket; they need to start thinking about their own batting, which might be a few balls away. Openers keep an eye on the opposition's dressing room, looking for a declaration. They also sometimes ask the tailenders about their side's plans of declaring, if any. The problem is when the tail starts to wag and the opposition captain decides to prolong your agony. You can plan only so much and keep yourself warm and loose for so long.

When the last wicket falls, or the declaration finally comes, the openers duly take the permission of the batsmen (it's against protocol to leave the ground before they do) and rush to the dressing room. After all, they get only 10 minutes to get fresh, change into new clothes (at least a dry shirt) and put on their gear. It leaves very little time to gather your thoughts, and that's why most openers spend a couple of quiet minutes in their seats with their eyes closed just before walking on to the field.

Now the scenes that greet the opening batsmen on the field are quite different from the ones they grew used to after nearly two days of play. There is a crowded slip cordon and most fielders are in attacking positions.

Once bowlers have a cushion of 600 runs, they become more effective, or at least more adventurous. They don't shy away from experimenting in order to dislodge the batsman, and they don't worry about the runs conceded in the bargain.

Batsmen on the other hand are advised not to think in terms of runs - those scored by the opposition or how many they need to score themselves to get to safety. If you think about chasing a total of 650, it certainly sounds like a herculean task. Even if you think about 450 to avoid the follow-on, which is slightly less daunting, you're still starting off on the wrong foot. You can't be pessimistic right from the outset. A good idea would be to think about stitching together partnerships and batting sessions.

A huge first innings gives the opposition the leverage to try various things. They will invariably start with a conventional attack: two or three slips and perhaps a short leg. The bowling lines will be around off stump, the length on the fuller side. If that doesn't get the breakthrough, they'll probably play with the patience of the batsmen by maintaining an outside-off-stump line with a heavily packed off-side field. I remember England trying the tactic against Michael Clarke in the 2005 Ashes. Eventually Clarke ended up dragging one back into his stumps, in his 90s.

If that doesn't work, sides opt for bowling into the batsman's ribs from around the wicket.

The spinners, too, maintain attacking lines and fields throughout. Even when the batsman is scoring freely, they will have a man at short leg or silly point. That's exactly what India did during the last Test match, in Sydney, in 2004. Both Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden were well set, but I was kept at short leg all through.

The fielding team might also employ an inside-out field, which means having some fielders in catching positions and a few patrolling the fence.

The last resort would be to bowl into the rough. On other occasions this particular option is used to restrict the batsmen from scoring runs, but when your team has a huge total on board you use it to attack.

A huge total ensures that the team batting second is never safe and the team that put the total on the board is never out of the game: a couple of quick wickets can change the game. Also, nine out of 10 times, if the opposition has scored over 600 runs in the first innings of the Test match only two results are possible - a win for them or a draw.

In such situations, batting time is as important as scoring runs. Rahul Dravid once told me that saving a Test match is also an art. If your team manages to score enough to avoid the follow-on, you are generally safe. Otherwise, once again you start keeping an eye on the opposition's body language to assess if they will enforce the follow-on or not.

Regardless of whether they ask you to bat again or not, batting is not going to be easy whenever it comes next. The pressure increases manifold because there won't be another chance to make up for your mistake. Also, batting will rarely be easy on a fourth- or fifth-day pitch with a match to save.

While spinners are supposed to be the greatest threats on the last day, batting against the quick bowlers on a worn-out track with unpredictable bounce is equally difficult, especially in places like Australia where the cracks open up massively. Every now and then the ball hits a crack and behaves abnormally. That plays on the batsman's mind and can lead to errors of judgment.

When winning is not an option it's difficult to keep your spirits up for the remainder of a match. Batting in the fourth innings on the fifth day requires not only grit and determination but also a watertight technique. Not to mention that for batsmen the margin of error is remarkably small on the last day.