Captains, bowlers must be smart

Hyderabad’s template is now being emulated by all the other teams who have seen how a flying start can take the game away from the opposition

It's been a week of the 18th season of the IPL and already we are seeing what the future looks like. Last year the Hyderabad team gave us more than a glimpse of it by putting a capital P in power and play. That template is now being emulated or attempted by all the other teams who have seen how a flying start can take the game away from the opposition even before the stadium is totally filled up. Yes, there can be a crash landing too as the Hyderabad team found out in their second game against Lucknow. 

Don’t allow big partnerships

That said, unless the pitch starts helping spin from the first over, we will see more 70-plus runs in the Powerplay than we have seen in all the IPL editions so far. Captains and bowlers will have to be very smart about what the lines and lengths should be to get early wickets and put a speed bump on the scoring. Not allowing a big partnership to develop and getting wickets as regularly as the speed breakers on Vizag roads is one sure way of restricting the opposition to a decent score. 

The Impact Player rule does allow the teams, especially the one that is chasing, to add depth to their batting and so, despite losing wickets the target can be reached as Delhi showed against Lucknow.

Boundaries stay the same

While the batters’ approach in the Powerplay has changed drastically, what hasn't changed is the size of the boundaries. This despite there being more space beyond the LED advertising boards which can be pushed almost to the fence. So often we see sixers just clearing the boundary line, which could well result in a dismissal if the LED boards were pushed back and with it the boundary lines by a few metres, which could well give the bowlers a wicket instead of a six against their names. 

Another thing where the size has remained the same is the cash awards from sponsors at the end of the match.  While the title sponsorship and other sponsorships, plus broadcast revenue has grown incredibly, the Player of the Match is getting pretty much the same he got way back in 2008. Now that IPL has entered its adulthood, will the prize money also increase like our parents increased our pocket money when we finished school and started college.

 A tournament like the IPL, which is the cynosure of the cricketing world and where every little incident can be magnified into a major issue, especially by the media of the old powers, it is disturbing to see spectator invasions during the game. 

Fan invasions break rhythm 

It is totally understandable that the fan wants to meet his hero but when the invasion happens, it upsets the rhythm and momentum of the game and can turn the game around. Apart from that, there's always a risk to the player where the fan, in his over enthusiasm, can accidentally injure the player. 

The sight of the security guys waking up and trying to catch the invader and being made to run around and sometimes slipping and falling may be entertaining to some, but it's something that can be avoided to make sure the game carries on uninterrupted.

 Cricket being such a popular sport in the country one can understand that even the security guys are watching the match rather than the spectators, but they are failing in their duty and thereby letting the game down. It is not known if there's any training or protocol about security at big crowd events like concerts, political meetings and such like, but seriously every time a fan runs onto the ground the heart is praying that nothing untoward happens to the players.

As the IPL goes on, the sight of more deliveries going into the crowd is more than welcome but not the crowd going on to the ground.

Professional Management Group

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