Sport

Middle overs are crucial in one-dayers

— Photo: K.R. Deepak

CONTRIBUTING WITH THE BALL TOO: With no sign of England using its power-play, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh handled the middle overs at Kanpur, with the latter even getting rid of Ravi Bopara.

For the first time in the last three one-day matches, India was fielding first. It is another story that India’s captain later revealed that he would have chosen to do the same had he won the toss. Strategies based on ground and weather conditions had already decided that for team India.

What was interesting, however, was the way India restricted England — they did not merely restrict, but managed to bowl out the opposition in the truncated number of overs. By doing this, they demonstrated how important the middle overs are in a fifty over game.

The 16th to 35th overs are crucial to any one-day game. The batting team might decide to take its power play some time after this.

So, in essence, the bowlers during this spell should look to not only contain the batsmen but, more importantly, to take a few wickets.

Batting partnerships built at this stage can prove to be the turning point of the game. If wickets are picked up at this juncture, the batting tail is exposed during the slog overs. By doing this one can also nullify the effect of the batting power play.

England’s hopes in the third ODI might have been constrained by Munaf Patel who picked up Ian Bell’s wicket, and Ravi Bopara was sent up the order. It was the 15th over and England showed no sign of taking up its power-play. So, Dhoni used Yuvraj and Harbhajan to bowl the middle overs.

Harbhajan bowled slower through the air, mainly sticking to outside the off-stump line. He managed to mix up his deliveries and kept the batsman guessing. The bigger ground also meant Harbhajan could flight the ball better. Once Harbhajan gets a wicket, he is dangerous.

Yuvraj played the containment game, complimenting Harbhajan’s attacking line. No batsman likes to be contained by someone they believe to be a “part-time bowler”, and Bopara fell victim to this.

Bowlers always hunt in pairs and this occasion was no exception. Even during the batting power-play, England managed only 21 runs. With the most important wickets falling in the middle overs, England was left to try and make up the deficit in the remaining overs and eventually succumbed to the pressure.

On the other hand, England failed to take advantage of these decisive overs in the second match. When India was reeling at 29 for three, the visitors should have tightened the screws. Instead, they let Gambhir and Yuvraj take control. Once England failed to contain the batsmen in the middle overs, India was always looking at a big total.

This is one of the reasons the batting middle order needs to be both aggressive and technically sound. The bowlers, on the other hand, have to play both on the minds of the batsmen and prey on their weakness.

This would guarantee a good one-day game to the finish.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu