The Hindu : Sport : Technique — a major point of contention

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Tuesday, Feb 20, 2007
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Technique — a major point of contention

Stroke players rely on instinct and technique is only secondary to them, writes Makarand Waingankar

— PHOTO: AFP

LUCKY TO MAKE IT: A not so fully fit Irfan Pathan's selection was based more on reputation than performance.

Sport is all about competitiveness and entertainment. Winning and losing are an integral part of every sport. However, cricket lovers in India tend to overlook this basic aspect. There is also a growing tendency to predict the future of a cricketer by dissecting his capability to handle international pressure. Technique then becomes a major point of contention.

The arrival of Viv Richards and later Sachin Tendulkar on the international scene had connoisseurs of the game discussing their technical deficiencies. "Oh, Richards playing so much across the line is an ideal candidate for getting bowled or lbw" and "Sachin's lower grip could create many options for bowlers to pack him off". And yet with all those so-called technical deficiencies, both Richards and Tendulkar entertained the cricketing world for more than a decade.

Until the advent of limited-overs cricket, players were more inclined to go by the coaching manual that could never teach a player how to innovate while playing a 50-over game. The more the limited-overs game was played, the more innovations we got to see. Though Pataudi brought lofted shots into Indian cricket, it was K. Srikkanth who made it more entertaining with his hand-eye co-ordination hitting. Again, Srikkanth too had technical deficiencies but what mattered to him was sending the ball to the boundary as quickly and as many times as possible.

Cavalier approach

Strangely, those who played with Srikkanth and accepted his cavalier approach weren't ready to accept Virender Sehwag despite the fact that he scored most of his runs outside India and some of the knocks were on seaming tracks. Stroke players have one thing in common. They all rely on their instincts. Technique is secondary to their instincts. And when Sandeep Patil was promoted to the middle order by Ashok Mankad in the Mumbai team, not many in Mumbai were prepared to accept the move as Patil made his debut as a medium pacer. In the 1978-79 season, Patil impressed with his big hitting, but the one who made it to the World Cup was Anshuman Gaekwad.

Sunil Gavaskar, with his superb mastery of technique, never tried to counsel either Srikkanth or Patil.

Paranjape theory

Coach Vasu Paranjape told Patil on several occasions, "You watch the bowlers for half an hour and bowlers will watch you for four and a half hours". The hand-eye coordination players would understand this `Paranjape theory' better than any counselling either in the dressing room or from the non-striker's end.

Dhoni, Uthappa and Karthik are the modern Sandeep Patils of India. The fact that they continue to play swashbuckling knocks without aiming for three-digit scores shows that they are sticking to the roles assigned to them by the team-management. To these batsmen, a hundred shouldn't be the priority in a limited-overs match. They are there to do what others can't do. Dhoni wasn't selective when he arrived, but later he developed the art of finishing the game the way Yuvraj Singh has been doing.

The only worry now is Irfan Pathan's fitness. Why was he selected for the World Cup when he wasn't fit? Isn't it demoralising to Ranadeb Bose, who has been the highest wicket-taker in the Ranji Trophy this season and has been doing equally well in the limited overs? The problem here is that though Pathan has not concealed his injury, the selectors and the team-management have glossed over it. This shows that the selection was more on reputation than performance.

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