Cricket, Its Captain And His Tactics

Among all the tactical games played throughout the world, the game of Cricket is undoubtedly one that stands out where the captain matters a lot, especially when it comes to tactics.  Taking the statement a bit further, it would not be wrong for me to say that Cricket is as much skill-based as it is tactic-based. Unlike Soccer or many other team games, the coach of a cricket team cannot take or make quick on-field decisions. There are several counter-opinions  to this statement, but my long experience of following the game forces me to stick to this point of mine. The little bit of the game that I have played myself, the comments and analysis I have read and heard from experts, and the countless matches that I have watched over the years compel me to say that the captain plays a huge part in the success or failure of a side. On that note, let us go back a bit on the time radar - I take you all to the summer of 1992 "Down Under", when the stage was set for the fifth edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup. The focus here is - Martin Crowe, his courage and his men that took the New Zealand Cricket team all the way to the Semi-finals.

It all started with a rather haphazard team selection. While doing commentary during a match much later, Crowe admitted to the fact that he had a big debate with the selectors while constructing the national side for the World Cup. All was well in the end, he got his men right! In that package of Crowe's men were two very special ones - one, Mark Greatbatch and the other, Dipak Patel. How a tactic is thought of, and how the benefit of it is construed are matters that affect a viewer the least. But what affects the fans the most is how the tactic gets employed. The first game was at Auckland, the famous diamond shaped Cricket ground where scoring big was not that difficult. John Wright was aging, Rod Latham was new, Crowe and Rutherford were the mainstay. A hundred from the captain Crowe followed, a decent enough target was set for the-then World Champions, Australia. Till then, everything was cliche, within the script. Come the second half, there was drama. No Danny Morrison, the fastest Kiwi bowler to open the proceedings, instead, it was the off-spinner Dipak Patel. Laughs and sighs started inside the commentary box - several times, the camera was planted over the face of the great captain who had dared to open the bowling with a spinner. But the tactic paid off - while all the seamers and medium pacers got hit, the sluggish pitch and intelligent bowling by Patel caged the famed Aussie batting line-up. Much to the surprise of the entire Cricket world, New Zealand created an upset - the World Champions were beaten and Crowe, the captain arrived with the Man of the Match award. The award was more in recognition of his captaincy, than his hundred!

The first two matches concluded - out went John Wright with an injury, and in came Mark Greatbatch. Now here, there are some thoughts that need to be spared. While some say that the concept of "Pinch Hitting" was first experimented by England through the great Ian Botham, I would beg to disagree. One or two occasions here and there cannot be made  a big thing, certainly not as big a thing as hitting Curtly Ambrose or Malcolm Marshall or Anderson Cummins down the ground, for fours and sixes, in a tournament like the Wold Cup. I zero in on this game between New Zealand and West Indies because I watched it throughout, I adored it, and I fell in love with Mark Greatbatch, the "Hitter" and Martin Crowe, the captain. The first half was dominated by miserly Dipak Patel, once again Crowe's ploy working out. Then, in the second half, it was ferocious hitting. Once again it was Eden Park, meaning somewhat short boundaries. But the ground size did not matter much, it could never matter when a left-handed sturdy batsman ran down the pitch and lofted one quick bowler after the other, numerous times. No show of emotion, no pains, no joy, only sublime hitting was the order of the opening act from Greatbatch. The game was sealed that day, and so it was for many of the games that followed. The concept of using the field restrictions by hitting the ball over the infield was established and established to perfection. Romesh Kaluwitharana and Sanath Jaysuriya took this strategy to a different level altogether for sure, but the pioneering act was set during that tournament. Much can be written on this topic but let us save it for another day. However, just so we get a rough picture of what was happening during those acts by Greatbatch, I can highlight only one example. If my memory does not betray me, I think I lost count of how many times the commentator had to say the word "unbelievable" and the phrase "In the air"!

Crowe was successful as a tactical genius during the World Cup with his two masterstrokes - the spin and the hitting. Of course, he personally led the team from the front amassing most runs and getting the Man of the Series Award. A Wisden Cricketer before, the batsman Crowe did not need further recognition, but somewhere deep down the captain within him needed to be hailed by the Cricket World.

So, how shall I end this column which is so very close to my heart ? Let us end this with an anti-climax! The surprise package of the tournament, New Zealand was all set to storm into the finals. A huge score was set, the captain was in song, but the game of glorious uncertainty had some pages left in it! The chips were down, the great Imran Khan was playing his last World Cup as captain of Pakistan, and he was determined to retire on a high note. When the wind was blowing in the opposite direction, out came a newbie by the name Inzamam-Ul-Haq and the courageous and tactical captain Crowe was sitting out due to an injury. A four followed another four, lethal hitting, clean hitting took center-stage. Another tactical ploy came out as winner and the Kiwis missed the bulls-eye. The tears in Crowe's eyes said it all that day!