One-day cricket poses its own set of challenges for the captain. How does the skipper manage his overs? How does he cope with the pressures at the death? How does he set his field within the purview of the field restrictions? How does he shuffle his batting order? And how does he read the game vis-à-vis the toss and the conditions?

A mediocre captain plays the routine. Here, the bowling changes and the field setting are pre-programmed and there is no alternative plan.

A good captain may have a style that is patterned, but reacts better to situations. He has alternatives.

A brilliant captain makes things happen. In contemporary cricket, New Zealand's Stephen Fleming and Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene are two such men.

Element of surprise

A captain needs to surprise the opposition. When Martin Crowe opened the bowling with off-spinner Dipak Patel in the '92 World Cup down under, he had caught his adversary unawares. The field restrictions were on, but Crowe was giving the invitation to batsmen to go over the top.

Pakistan and Imran Khan triumphed from the brink in `92. Imran's most important, although not widely recognised, move was to promote himself to the No. 3 slot in the decisive stages of the tournament. Imran's solidity prevented the stroke-makers in the middle from facing the new ball.

The dynamics of the game have changed since. Now we have the Power Play overs.

— File Photo: V.V. Krishnan

CLEVER TACTICIAN: Sri Lankan skipper Arjuna Ranatunga, with the 1996 World Cup, had his spinners bowling to a single-saving field.

Let's first glimpse at the field restrictions in the first ten overs and the two five-over blocks. In the first ten, seven fielders in the circle, two of them in catching positions, are a must. In the five-over chunks, seven in the circle are compulsory, but not the two in catching positions.

When does a captain take his Power Play overs? When does he bring his spinners on? The result of a contest may hinge on these decisions.

A skipper with foresight need not use either one or two blocks of the Power Play overs if he believes he can bowl out the opposition, inside 40 or 45 overs. The spinners can be used as attacking options; after all, the best way to check the run-rate is by striking.

Master moves

Sometimes, the entire strategy can revolve on conditions. On the sub-continental pitches in '96, Arjuna Ranatunga, the grandmaster, had Muttiah Muralitharan & Co. bowling to a single-saving cordon even in the middle overs. The discipline in the Lankan bowling — the batsmen were stifled — enabled Ranatunga's ploy to succeed. A clever captain does not allow the game to drift in the middle overs, both in bowling and batting. He is pro-active.

In the '96 semifinal at Mohali, the manner in which Australia's Mark Taylor brought in Shane Warne in the end overs against the West Indies reflected his cricketing nous; in the quarterfinal at Chepauk, he, intelligently, sent in Warne as a pinch-hitter to disrupt the Kiwi rhythm.

A thinking captain also gets the team balance right, makes the most of his resources even if he does not have a specialist fifth bowler. Whether it was Steve Waugh using Tom Moody in 1999, or Kapil Dev utilising Mohinder Amarnath and Kirti Azad in 1983, winning captains have successfully hidden chinks in bowling.

But then, Waugh, Kapil, Clive Lloyd and Allan Border were more inspirational leaders of men than outstanding captains.

Of course, Border struck a deadly blow with his left-arm spin in the '87 final at the Eden Gardens and used Steve Waugh's change of pace well in the end overs, but that was a campaign where influential coach Bob Simpson had a large say.

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