Why the Batting Powerplay could have stayed on

The rule changes seek to restore balance between bat and ball

The new rules for the one-day game are out and the ICC has finally woken up to the fact that batsmen were having too much fun and the balance between bat and ball simply had to be restored. While the changes mentioned have a sound reason to be enforced, I can't help but think that the Batting Powerplay could have been spared the axe. Was the Batting Powerplay the real villain behind the big scores accomplished recently?

The Middle Overs Conundrum

The middle overs phase of a one-day innings was long criticised for being mundane. To a large extent, the argument was true. The concept of a contest goes for a toss if both teams are happy with proceedings at the same time. That was precisely the case in the middle overs. The bowling team captain was happy to get through the period at a reasonable run rate by using his part-timers, and the batting team was content with the runs given to them at virtually no risk.

In a bid to resolve this issue, entered the hero of this write-up, the "Batting Powerplay". From a numerical point of view, the powerplay meant the boring middle over phase was cut down by five overs. Moreover, it changed the dynamics of an innings and posed different challenges to the batting and bowling sides.

Mastering the Batting Powerplay

Perhaps it would be safe to say that no team completely mastered the art of using the Batting Powerplay. There have been numerous occasions when a team with an excellent base has lost quick wickets in the quest for those extra runs, thereby allowing the bowling side to make a comeback. We hardly saw batting teams take the Powerplay before 35 overs, leaving it usually for the stage when it became mandatory.

If the Batting Powerplay is to batsmen what a chocolate is to a child, one wouldn't obviously wait for it to be enforced. Clearly, the Batting Powerplay was not something in the comfort zone of batsmen. That's why we have a strong case for a misnomer here.

Quite often, wickets have come in clusters in this period of play. A new batsman coming in to bat during the powerplay could no longer find that easy single to deep extra cover or long on. More often than not, the fielder was being found, emphasising the necessity of a set pair of batsmen to bat through the powerplay. Further, teams have reaped the benefits of having good fielders in their ranks during the powerplay. Dot balls in overs 36-40 is an acute source of frustration for batsmen. Invariably, the high-risk single is attempted and having a fielder who can throw the stumps down makes the batsman pay for his mistake

Sanjay Manjrekar once talked on air about the curious case of the 41st over. Even if the Batting powerplay brought reasonable success to the batting side, there stood a challenge of re-adjusting the pace of the innings in the over immediately after the powerplay. A minor case of the batsmen acknowledging the extra fielder outside the 30-yard circle which didn't always happen and there was another wicket taking opportunity.

Attack is the best form of defence

The Batting Powerplay forced fielding captains to be aggressive. Five overs with the field up and you had to turn to your best bowlers. When a team is batting at 200/2 after 35 overs, I wonder how many captains would turn to their best bowlers for five overs on the trot with only three fielders on the fence? A batting powerplay had the potential to extrapolate the above scenario to 240/5 after 40, and you never know what can happen from there. Not always, but at least it gives some sort of chance and a chance is all you want if you are staring at 200/2 as a bowling team captain.

Who can forget how much damage the batting powerplay created for NewZealand in the World Cup final this year? They went from 150/3 to 165/6, a period in the game which decisively swung the match in favour of Australia.

A Batting Powerplay in the current framework

With the new rules which now allow five fielders on the rope for the last ten overs of an innings, I would vouch for the argument that a Batting Powerplay could have really spiced things up. It would have been interesting to see how batting sides would have paced their innings in their last 20 overs. Boundaries might no longer be too easy to come in the final ten which would have put more pressure on the batting side to make optimum use of the batting Powerplay.

Assuming the batting powerplay is taken from overs 36-40, batsmen would have had to re-calibrate their pace really well. Simple isn't it? The demands from a batsman in over numbers 40 and 41 are the same but the fields set to him could have been contrastingly different. A situation tailor-made to test the temperament of batsmen.

Instead, we could now possibly go back to the state where bowling captains can use more part-time options in the middle and hold back the best options for the death overs, especially with the luxury of five fielders available now. Everyone can forget the Batting Powerplay but hopefully captains don't forget the lesson it has left behind – being aggressive even at the time of a crisis can pay rich dividends.

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Edited by Staff Editor