The art of the orthodox

67 runs required from 30 balls.

Required run rate: 13.40. Current run rate: 10.13

Two set batsmen in the middle. One of them is chasing the orange cap and is on 76 from a mere 35 balls with 7 boundaries and 5 sixers. The other is a batsman who is on 21 from 16 balls, has gotten his eye in but hasn't taken the tournament by storm.

Any sane human with a logical mind will decide that the batsman who has scored more runs and is far more in-form should take most of the strike, while the other guy chips in with singles and run well between the wickets to help his partner keep the strike. Unfortunately, that is not what Manish Pandey thought was the best course of action.

Under normal circumstances, it is not fair by any means to criticise a batsman who got 62 off 38 balls as the reason for a loss after his bowlers gave away 218 runs in a painfully small Chinnaswamy stadium, but Pandey's hand in the loss cannot also be neglected.

Off the 16th over bowled by Chahal, Williamson faces two balls - and took two singles. Off the remaining four balls, Pandey manages 9 runs. A 2 off the last ball meant that Williamson will face the next over bowled by fellow Kiwi Tim Southee.

Off the first ball of the 17th over, Williamson takes a single. Off the next three balls, Pandey manages 3 runs - a dot, a 2 (which would have been a dot if not for Umesh Yadav's misfield) and a single. The next ball, Williamson takes a single again. A single off the last ball and Pandey retains the strike.

The first two balls of the 18th over bowled by Siraj go for 10 - the result of two audacious scoops, one over the short fine leg and the other over a short third man. The cameras zoom on to Kohli, who has his heart in his mouth. RCB's bowling has been their let down this season, and everything looks set to be a familiar heartbreak again.

A single off the third ball and Williamson once again responds with a single from his end. 12 off four balls and looks set for more. Siraj sees Pandey walking again and misses his low full toss by a mile, making it 13 from 4. This is where it got frustrating.

Pandey goes for the scoop once more, misses it. A dot ball when chasing 36 off 14. To add more to that, Pandey squeezes in a single off the last ball and retains the strike.

A misfield off the first ball of the 19th over from Southee leads to a boundary, and consequently Pandey to his half-century. The second ball gets clobbered for a four and a single off the third ball. Kane Williamson, in all decency, once again manages a single.

A ball just inside the wide line, and Pandey lets it go due to a nefarious error in judgement. He takes his frustration out on the ground, and makes it up with a boundary off the last ball. Kane Williamson takes strike for the final over off Siraj.

Colin de Grandhomme takes a composed catch of the first ball of the 20th over, sending Williamson back home. Pandey changes end and the stage is set for a grand finale. Only, it never arrives.

Pandey goes for the scoop once more and misses it. To call it a scoop is in itself an abomination. The bat doesn't even face the right way to hit the ball. It is halfway between asinine and cute, and the commentators on air are just as perplexed.

20 from 6 becomes 20 from 4.

The next ball, a full toss angling down, is missed and Hyderabad manage only a single. 19 off 3, and the formality takes place. Royal Challengers Bangalore win by 14 runs.

It is a travesty that Kane Williamson faced only 8 balls in the last 5 overs of the chase

Kane Williamson, scorer of 625 runs in the tournament, and who has been on the crease since the 4th over faced a paltry 8 balls off the last 5 overs. Pandey, while batting superbly as an individual, was the architect of the team's failure.

A little too unfair? Not really. This is where the difference between good batsmen and clever batsmen come into play. T20s have changed the idea of batting into a mindless slog-fest where edges are rewarded as good as shots off the middle of the bat.

The end result is what we witnessed today - batsmen trying to be so audacious that they fail at the ordinary. A pursuit of the unorthodox that results in the loss of what is possible. It results in a scoop that looks good in the highlight reel but make your teammates scratch their heads.

This is not an attack of Pandey on a specific level, but at the ignorance and the embarrassment of modern-day cricketers to embrace the conventional. A handful of them still exist, those who thrive even at this level by playing only the traditional shots.

What is needed is a mix of both, and a cricketing mind that knows when is the right time to do what. Say what you will about Dhoni's technique, but this is the are where he truly excels. He has the raw power to smack every ball over long on, but he doesn't choose to - not because it is impossible, but because it is unnecessary.

This is where Uthappa's unselfish contribution during Rohit Sharma's 200 run knock shines too. Uthappa didn't join in, because he didn't have to. Sometimes you just recognize that the guy on the other end is in the zone, and it is simply better to play second fiddle.

The difference is what the younger cricketers need to learn, to adapt. Sometimes, all you got to do is the easy thing.