CRICKET- A MIND GAME

A Legendary cricketer once said, "WHEN YOU ARE BOWLIING JUST DON’T THINK WHERE TO PITCH THE BALL, RATHER   BEFORE DELIVERING ASK  YOURSELVES HOW ARE YOU PLANNING  TO GET THE BATSMEN OUT AND THEN SET THE FIELD AND BOWL ACCORDINGLY."  Wondering who this man was??? THE GREATEST CAPTAIN OF CRICKET JUST NEVER TO BE…. MR. SHANE WARNE!!!!!!!    So its quite obvious that cricket is just not a physical game its played more in the minds then in the fields. The result of a match is more or less determined by how you approach the game and how well you prepare and strategize about the intricacies of it. So what are  these strategies and mind games we are talking about here…. First of all let me make it clear that mind games does not mean sledging. Its way beyond sledging.  Sledging no doubt is a mind game but it’s the weapon of the weak and frustrated than the talented and confident. While dealing with sledging it can be seen with two different perspectives.. from the batsmen’s and the bowler’s perspective. While I feel the batsmen should never complaint about being sledged because he is out there to bat and should try on concentrate on that as when he gets out it would be rather because of a pretty good ball or a bad shot and if the reason for the bad shot was that he was being sledged then its no excuse as you are playing at an international level.  Whereas the bowler or the fielding team should not sledge as this just shows their weakness and lack of confidence in their  ability to get the batsmen out. As I said for a wicket to fall it should rather be a very good ball or a bad shot and there are  many other ways to induce a bad shot from the batsmen other than sledging. So what are the mind games that we are discussing here.. first and the most simple of all is to bowl consistently at a probing line and length and inducing a mistake this tests the patience and temperament of the batsmen. The other things are attack at his weakness  or block his strength for eg. Everyone knows Raina is uncomfortable with short ball so attack him there or when the English and the Africans realized that Hayden  used to play too straight and drove in the air while playing straight they used to have a fielder right next to the runner challenging him to hit there as a result Hayden had to curb his shots and play ultra carefully, and not to mention the English and the Africans  had their fair bit of success with these strategies. 

 While these were some strategies regarding the batsmen some other are just simple plans to get the batsmen thinking and make a mistake for example…   the Aussies used to have pretty good bowlers and with great pace not so long ago so they used to go in for a DOUBLE BLUFF-  i.e. they used to keep two fielders  one at fine leg and other at deep square leg on the hook  at the legside boundary for a mistimed pull or a hook shot,  and then keep on bowling bouncers so what used to happen was either the batsmen hooked and got out  or watching the two fielders at the boundary   they start expecting a short delivery and the bowler on the contrary bowled a straight and full ball to either get him bowled or trap him LBW. And the captain was smart enough to do these field changes purposely coming in front of the batsmen so that he notices the field change. Even when Warne used to bowl, many of the times Ponting used to set fields by standing at the side  of the pitch in front of the batsmen and letting him know what he is doing and where the field is going so that he is mindfull of the fielders while playing.  Another  strategy was when you know that a batsmen is good at drives but is vulnerable early in his innings and gets cought out in the slips while driving regular enough.. what the bowlers used to do was to bowl two balls in a row pretty full early in his innings to get him flashing his bat and in to a driving mode and then suddenly have a follow up ball just about at a perfect length to get him fending at it and to be cought at slip. By this way you might give away two boundaries but also get a fair chance of getting him out. And no need to mention the best exponent of this strategy was Glenn Mcgrath with his impeccable line and length. Whereas other simple strategies involve leaving  covers open while a inswing bowler or an off spinner is bowling so as to invite the batsmen to drive through the covers and as he would attempt to do so there would be a gap between the bat and the pads so that the inswing bowler or the off spinner can get through the gates to either bowl him or get him lbw. And similarly if an outswing bowler or a leg spinner is bowling captains tend to have mid wicket region empty so that he is induced to play an onn-drive leading  to either the batsmen knicking the ball to the slips or getting a leading edge to covers… Both the times the batsmen is invited to play against the movement of the ball.  Some other things include just as simple as a short leg or a silly point just to get you tensed, or the effort or a presence of  a diving fielder who gets you weary of taking a single and ultimately results into a runout … all these and many more are the strategies applied by many successful captains and bowlers around the world to get the batsmen out. As I always believe that any player who reaches the international level has the required talent and skill to be there  but the only thing that keeps you there is the ability to win these mind games and the determination to not to fall into the above traps… and that is what seperates the greats from the others. As you might have seen many players with immense talent  fail to make a mark just like Lou Vincent from New Zealand or why not  Yuvraj Singh (with the amount of talent he has he could have done a lot better) and the rather less talented and skillful people with great determination not just hang on but make a big contribution for eg. Paul Collingwood of England.  The ones with both the talent, skill and the determination  go on to become the legends of the game.  And as the saying goes  the one who succeeds is not the one who has the talent and ability to do so but it’s the one who converts  this talent and ability into determination and performance. And to those performers its not the mind game that gets  them out often… for them you got to bowl a great ball!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!