A tale of two powerplays

The concept of batting powerplays has constantly evolved with the destructive nature of the one-day game.

Ever since it was introduced to cricket,the concept of batting powerplays has constantly evolved with the destructive nature of the one-day game. While some teams still prefer to use it in the last ten overs of the innings,many others employ it as a launching pad just before the slog overs,in an attempt to gain the requisite momentum for the big bash.

Theoretically,it was a revolutionary move by both Graeme Smith and MS Dhoni to take the powerplay before the 30th over on Wednesday at Kingsmead. But for all practical purposes,the experiments had starkly different results for the opposing camps. While the Proteas skipper clapped a happy man right through the course of the five overs,his Indian counterpart watched India throw in the towel during that stipulated period.

Having forged a 66-run partnership until then,AB de Villiers (batting on 39) and JP Duminy (35) looked ready to step up at the end of the 28th over,with the score on 148. Smith sent his water-boy with a message,and umpire Simon Taufel rotated his hands to begin the SA batting powerplay. It could have gone terribly wrong,but Smith at least couldnt be blamed for not thinking this one through thoroughly.

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We weighed our options. It was a risk worth taking,and going by the result,I would say it paid off, Smith said.

Although de Villiers and Duminy played Munaf Patel,Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan well,it was in Ashish Nehras final powerplay over where the real mayhem unleashed. Having just brought up his fifty,de Villiers smacked his lips as Nehra stuttered in,bludgeoning him with an intoxicating mix of beauty and brute force. The first one was pulled through to the mid-wicket fence,the next an inside-out cover-drive into the hoardings and the third the most graceful of them all a cut to the square boundary.

Intuition or knowledge?

From 148/3 in 28 overs,SA had muscled on to 193 in 33,adding 45 runs at nine-an-over without any setbacks. At the opposite end of the spectrum,the batting powerplay ended Indias misery,snaring its main-man Virat Kohli in the first over itself. If the end result is anything to go by,then the Indians had made the call more with intuition than knowledge.

This time though,intuition didnt pay. As soon as Kohli requested for the field to move in,SA countered the move by unleashing Dale Steyn. Forced to make the powerplay count,Kohli played his first false shot of the day,resulting in his wicket for a fighting 54. By the end of the stipulated period,India had moved from 124/5 to 148/8.

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Just like using the decision-review system,implementing a powerplay is an art that is excelled with experience. But unlike UDRS,Dhoni & Co cannot squiggle out of mastering the use of restrictions. For when the ICC introduced the concept,they made it compulsory.