By Avinash Kr Atish New Dekhi 30 August : The Rohit Sharma-led India cricket team was at its best in the first match of Asia Cup 2022 against Pakistan in which they scored an thrilling win with their opponents having little hope of being able to get out of the trap and they were forced to succumb to it.
The intelligent usage of shorter balls to challenge batters and putting left-handed All-Rounder Ravindra Jadeja at No.4.during the chase two tactically sound decisions that resulted in positive results for India.
It’s not that the Indian team employed some rocket science or cricket hasn’t experienced this kind of strategy before.However, in a high-pressure game like India against Pakistan small details play a significant part in beating opponents, which was evident on Sunday.
The Indian fast bowlers were the main reason of India’s victory.It was the first time that India was able to take all of the wickets with speed in the course of a T20I innings which is why it’s easy to observe the effects of pace-bowling in this particular game.It’s also interesting the fact that five of the wickets that were that fell in the Pakistan innings were derived from short balls, something that Indian fast bowlers aren’t popular for, particularly in white-ball games.
Dubai generally has wickets that are suitable for spinners however, since August happens to be one of the most scorching months of the year in the city the pitch managers have left plenty of grass to maintain the track for a longer time.
Also, playing back-to-back games at similar venues isn’t a good thing for them also.
There was a lack of motion off the field as well as in the air, however the surface had a little of bounce to it that helped Indian fast bowlers to play short or even short of an adequate length in the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
India all-rounder Hardik Pandya led India’s ploy as he continued to dig in at the lengths of a hard Test match at 140 kmph.He also slipped in bouncers in a flurry which led to him taking all three of his wickets with short deliveries.
Hardik first ejected Iftikhar Ahmed with an excellently-directed bouncer, and then got rid of Mohammad Rizwan, who tried to increase the speed of a ball but was able to hit straight to the deep third man.Khushdil Shah also tried an uppercut against Pandya, only to be trapped at the deep point.
But, all this’short ball strategy’ was initiated with the clever Bhuvneshwar Kumar.The veteran pacer who is well-known for his swing, utilized the shorter ball to pull an escape rabbit to pull out of his hat in order to remove of Pakistan captain Babar Azam.
Babar was putting himself in driving positions in longer and straighter lengths, which is why the bouncer that came in after a series of pitched-up deliveries did exactly what was expected of the Pakistan captain — the top edge of pulling going towards the fielder with the shorter fine leg.The conditions weren’t set to allow Bhuvneshwar up for an first opening, but it did happen regardless for him.
The 32-year-old, who has been an inhalation of new air for the current Indian team and has taken 24 wickets in 18 T20Is in 2022, has explained the bowling strategy.
“Before throwing the ball first, I was thinking the ball was likely to swing.
The ball did not swing, but there was a little bit of bounce.We knew that we had to bowl wicket-to-wicket and short bowling was the strategy,” Bhuvneshwar told Star Sports in the break in the innings.
After having a good run with Pakistan in their opening match, India must continue this “short ball” strategy against the remaining of the teams in the current Asia Cup and even in the future.In addition, the majority of the Asian teams use flat tracks, either slow or even low, and so adapting to the high-quality short ball isn’t a natural thing to the Indians.
However, India teams need to be cautious as well, because the same tactics can be employed against them too.
All squads at the very least, have one pacer who can use these short balls effectively , even if they are not used as an attack.
Furthermore, Team India can also profit of quick bowling on the big and bouncy pitches of Australia during the T20 World Cup later this year.Remember that the MS Dhoni-led India during the 2015 World Cup had also used similar techniques to eliminate all opposition in the group stage games, but the batters of the host nation, Australia were able to counter that perfectly in the semi-final match.
Even today a well-directed short ball played at a steady speed is considered to be one of the best methods to get wickets, particularly in Australia.Therefore, Rahul Dravid and Rohit-led team management, along with their excellent pacers must devise and design short balls an effective tool ahead of the coming T20 World Cup.
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