Its been almost 2 weeks since the IPL kicked off, but the intense competition has already seen the rise of a few unique strategies in this format of the game. Here’s some of new strategies and tactics I’ve noticed the players using:1) The Wicketkeeper’s job has become more difficult
The wicketkeeper is facing all kinds of new problems in the short version of the game. The foremost problem, of course, is that the batsmen are stepping out far more often, and not just against the spinners. This presents the keeper with an interesting problem while the medium pacers are bowling. Should he stand up at the wicket to put some pressure on the batsman? But keeping at the wickets for medium pacers is quite risky, with the batsmen flashing the bat all the time, it makes it difficult to watch the ball. Plus, the batsmen move around the crease all the time, and the wicketkeeper has to keep up with all that.
Yesterday, Ronchi was standing up to Pollock! I saw Gilchrist stand up to Vaas the other day too!
2) The Proliferation of the “Lob” shot.
Apart from the big hitting slogging that the batsmen have been doing, some of them have even perfected what I can best describe as the “lob” shot. It looks like a tennis shot, attempting at hitting a boundary over fine leg. This shot was rarely seen in the ODI format (and certainly not in the Test format), but batsmen have now adapted it for Twenty20. Hayden was yesterday playing the “reverse lob” with some success too!
After the game, one of the commentators caught up with Hayden and asked him if he’d been practicing the shot, and Hayden was not ashamed to admit he was! He said, rightly so, that in T20, these kinds of shots are essential in a batsman’s armory. Well done! Innovation at its best!
3) The return of the full toss.
I’m not sure this is a “feature or a bug”, but I’ve noticed that bowlers are using the full toss with increasing frequency in T20. The reason I say this might be an un-intended ball is that bowlers are mostly looking to hit the block-hole, and not getting it quite right. The result is a low full toss. But I’m not so sure.
Bajji and Warne (and even McGrath to some extent) have been seen using this ball with success! I think the reasoning is that if you ball it fast enough, the full toss may come as a surprise, and is difficult to hit for a six, especially if it is high enough. And in T20, the one’s and two’s don’t matter as much, it’s preventing the boundaries that matters. It’ll be interesting to watch the matches to see if this ball can become the “slower delivery” equivalent of the ODI.
Apart from these big three, I’ve also noticed some interesting things that I can’t really figure out. For example, have you noticed how there are lots of left-handed batsmen in some teams? The Super Kings had 5 of the 6 top batsmen left handed. I can’t figure out if this is an accident or they’re using some sort of strategy.
Another interesting thing is that the game seems to be going towards specialization instead of all rounders. I don’t have enough data to prove this, but I’m watching this carefully. Have you guys noticed some interesting strategies as well?
