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[inoc]

I had suggested in one of my earlier posts that I will discuss ODI strategy in a new thread. So, here it is.

The changes brought about in ODIs, namely, the power plays and the now defunct substitute rule necessitated changes in approach to the game. We all had a discussion about it and my view was to wait and watch how the think tanks come up with plans to exploit the changes. I believe that the teams playing better cricket now have developed a plan for the power plays which unfortunately the Indian team hasn’t (no surprises there)

Let me elaborate. We have 20 overs with only two fielders outside the circle (the first ten have two in catching positions). This means that if you can find the gaps then getting boundaries is easier and possible for a longer period of time than before. The age old dictum of having wickets in hand still holds good but the change is in the fact that boundaries can be had with correct cricketing strokes without risks for a longer period of time.

Let’s have some numbers. If you can score a four every over for the power plays then it gives you 20 fours. On a batting wicket it might even be 30. Add another 10 (a four an over for the last ten) and you have a minimum of 30/40 fours in your innings. That is 120/160 runs. In the middle 20 if you score at say 4 singles leaving out any fours you have another 80 runs. Add a couple of singles other than the fours you hit in the first twenty and the last ten scores you another 60.

So in the worst scenario we have 120 (a four every over in the first 20 and last 10) + 80 (4 singles every over in the middle twenty) + 60 (two singles every over apart from the four in the first 20 and last 10) gives us a total of 260. On each of these segments more is easily achievable hence the bigger scores nowadays than before.
For example an extra four every three overs during the first twenty and last ten produces another forty runs and a hence the easily achievable 300.

The one big fallacy of this theory is if you lose early wickets. Most of what I have suggested is not achievable then. That is precisely the reason you see players like Gilchrist/Jayasuriya have calmed down and are not going helter-skelter after the bowling but concentrating on keeping their wickets intact but still managing to score that required boundary every over. Mathew Hayden was always suited to this kind of play and his great form has just coincided with the ability to get a four even of good/ decent deliveries. Just think about the walk down the wicket and belt a four along the ground (i am not going into the fact how that makes the field setting look silly).

The teams which have employed the tactics of trying to blast the bowling in the first few overs have more often than not lost a few wickets and thereafter not been able to follow the above policy. The Indian team is a prime example, they had blasters in the name of VS/RU and when they didn’t succeed the pressure of wickets caused the inevitable. India should have had technically correct batsmen able to find gaps with minimum risks upfront, not out and out sloggers. The batting order was wrong in the current ODI scenario. We were playing the ’96 World Cup in terms of strategy.

Comments welcome.

[cricinfo]

i will  like to have something which might sound funny but might make the game much more interesting ....

if in ONE  over  batsmen take consecutive 4 or 5 singles , they get bonus 2 runs , something like this will make each and every ball that much more interesting specially during middle overs when some teams just keep on getting singles and game becomes a bit sleepy in nature . This at least might  give our indian lazy-asses some inspiration to improve running between the wickets 

[TheWall]

i will  like to have something which might sound funny but might make the game much more interesting ....

if in ONE  over  batsmen take consecutive 4 or 5 singles , they get bonus 2 runs , something like this will make each and every ball that much more interesting specially during middle overs when some teams just keep on getting singles and game becomes a bit sleepy in nature . This at least might  give our indian lazy-asses some inspiration to improve running between the wickets 

Excellent imagination and suggestion!!!

Inoc, Gilly and Jayasuriya have gotten older which may also be contributing to their slower pace of scoring up front.. please expand your sample size and post again with findings...