221023 Spinning Ways (Of The Ball) (Copy On Mericomm)

  Spinning Ways Of The Ball

              The two top teams are going to fight it out for the top spot today in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 but that is not just the reason why this match is important. This match could also be a preamble of the Finals. The possibility is thrilling to Crores of Indian fans and they should be very rightfully anxious about the Results, the final results of this World Cup. The way things are going, I give 90 percent chances to the Indian team to lift the Cup for the third time. 

                The setbacks can be in the form of exemplary performance by the opponent team, the inherent divisions and parting ways in the team, their own lack of willingness to get the Cup and of course the cyber environmental deceits and destructions. So far, the going has been good and apart from some incidents here and there, the team spirit and fightback has been praiseworthy. Hence the reason why I give 90% chances to this team. All the bowlers are performing (but lethal match winning shows are yet to be seen) and both the star batsmen are going positively with ample support from the others. This is very important because if some cyber upset gets one, the others perform and get the team through. This was why Dhoni used to be so helpful and now there is Rahul. But the need for a consistent long-lasting hard hitting batsman in the lower batting lineup remains a slight weak point. Or should I say that such a player is a boon for his team and other teams have such players. In the Indian team, this task is done by Rohit himself, and that too, right from the word Go. So he is also the primary target for the opponents.

                Talking about Rohit, his dismissal in the match against the Bangladesh, was a typical pacer's trick of bodyline direction. On the first ball, which was little more down the leg side, he was able to connect well and pulled it for a six. But the next ball was not that much to the leg side and instead it was heading straight onto his head. The result was that his handle length to the ball reduced and the ball remained within the boundary line. The long handle length the batsman can get when hitting the ball, the more powerful he can hit the ball and the more chances are there that it would be unstoppable. Here, for longer handle length, we have to connect the ball in the lower half of the bat, preferably at the quarter length of the blade from the bottom. And this we can do by shuffling to the off side when attempting to hit a pull or a hook shot. All new players should practice it as a habit to shuffle the back foot towards the off side and open front towards the short pitched leg side ball and the opt for a pull or a hook or ducking and letting it go.

                Coming to my title topic, that is Spinning ways of the ball, when a ball is spinning and it hits a flat surface, it moves towards the direction of it's spin. Because it gets less resistance in that direction and it deflects towards that side. This happens when it hits the ground and it also happens when it hits the bat. So if a ball is spinning outwards, it will pitch and go outwards i.e. outwards from the direction of the bat. So when it will hit the bat, it will run off outwards and the shot would be a powerful one. So much so that a square drive with an upward angle of the bat can go for a six and same way for a pull shot on the leg side. But if a ball is spinning inwards that is coming towards the bat, it has a tendency to get inwards. So its spin tendency has to be counteracted. It has to be played a little late (than the outward spinning ball) so that it's inward tendency is subverted by the late angle of the bat. This shot doesn't get much power naturally and the batsman's efforts are required in empowering and manipulating this shot. Also, since the spin is countered, any slight early or late contact can spill the ball over into a catch, and an easy catch since it doesn't develop much power. Instinct plays an important role in this case of playing it accurately. Also, it would be wise to angle the bat downwards and put the ball into the ground as it would require an enormous effort to put away it safely over and away from the fielders. Making room for the shot is also required as a longer handle would give more power to the shot.

                    This is true for all types of bowlers, whether pace or spin and an instant reckoning for the batsman that if the ball is coming towards the bat, he wouldn't be able to make it a great shot and so he delays his shot or stops altogether and plays a defensive shot. It's all that "practice makes a man perfect" but practicing with theoretical thinking would make a better batsman. 

                    So much for today for the budding batsmen and with best wishes for the Indian team, I dedicate this post to their chances of success in this World Cup.    IPYadav

161023 India-Pakistan And England-Afghanistan Matches (Copy On Mericomm)

  India-Pakistan And England-Afghanistan Matches In ICC WC2023

             India - Pakistan match in the World Cup 2023, a blockbuster event in the subcontinent, had started off in a very unpleasant manner with Siraj bowling too many loose balls and giving away many precious runs. Then there appeared to be a change in the stance and some bouncers and bodyline directed balls were bowled. But that was frustrating. Whatever the teams and the Captains decided as a pre-match strategy, it certainly wasn't up to the mark for a blockbuster live event.

             Then doomed the literacy of bowling directed towards the stumps. In our old days, we used to hear in Radio commentary that a good length ball heading towards the stumps was treated respectfully. And this was minimum necessary in the present event. The Indian bowlers took the cue and started directing their deliveries on to the stumps. The top class Pakistani batsmen were tied down to the job of protecting their wickets and the fearless free flowing raps to the boundaries became a rare sight. And adding the top class off spin, googly and in-swingers to this, the direction of targeting the stumps became a lethal loophole in the Pakistani batting lineup. So many clean-bowled and LBW occurred that the Pakistani side was not able to reach even the 200 run mark. The target of 192 was easily achieved. The Pakistani bowlers also reciprocated with similar strategies, but the hard-hitting abilities of Rohit costed them dearly with lots of Sixers. Also, the other end was perfectly responsive with a perfect mix of defensive and attacking shots. 

               Shubhman Gill was a little unlucky because he sighted the ball well, played it well centered on his bat but only faltered in a little angling of the bat. When there was a fielder in that spot, a square drive or a late-cut should be played with little downward angle to put the ball down into the ground or with a little bigger upward angle to hit it over and above the fielder, probably for a six. A lot of Indian batmen fall prey to this bait of outside the off-stump because they don't angle their bat. The ball either takes the top edge or jumps upward with its spin.

                    Then, coming to the England-Afghanistan match, maybe England were taking them too lightly. Afghanistan batted first and amassed a huge score. Then, when England came to bat, the Afghanistan bowlers pressurized them up with directing the ball towards the stumps and the result was what nobody expected. Afghanistan beat England by getting them out well before the set target.

                  So, it seems the strategy of bowling to target the stumps is very very rewarding.   IPYadav

              

081023 India-Australia World Cup Match (copy on Mericomm)

  India-Australia World Cup Match 

                             08th Oct. 2023,   venue Chennai, India

                 It was a good competitive match with both sides enduring with their batting as well as bowling skills in a reality match. I have used the term 'reality match' because, nowadays, rarely do we see a real show of batting as well as bowling strength. Usually, these are adjusted as a compensation to make a match batsmen oriented (with lots of runs, sixes and fours and high pumping of adrenaline - a perfection to the demands of the showbusiness) or to make it bowlers oriented, where a lot of wickets fall and keen tussle between bat and ball is tested. But today's match had traits of good bowling as well as good batting.

             I am planning to write a book to include about my learning cricket and technical analysis about it as well as my memoirs about cricket. Therefore, I had planned to watch this match full, mainly with the inquisition that our paper tigers fail again and again against the Australia. I had tried to do observations on some previous occasions as well but somehow, I didn't find those matches engrossing because they always looked like one-sided or meek surrender or fixed to suit the show business. But today's match was fought on actual strengths of each side, with setbacks for each side and then a show of fightback. There was no meek surrender by either side and a sustained effort gave the final result. This was perfect for my study and I made a lot of observations and analysis about each side (but mainly from the point of view of India). It contains observations about batting techniques, bowling techniques, strategic moves, instincts, impulses, cybersphere effects and thinking, etc. and of course the Umpiring techniques as well.

                    The third umpire's decision about Rohit's dismissal was intriguing in particular. The ball had turned in from far outside the offstump  onto upper pad of forward kneeling Rohit Sharma who appeared to be plumb straight in front of the wickets from the front camera. This means the ball would go far outside on the leg side when it would reach the wickets transverse line and likely to go way up and above the wickets. How did the third umpire's software find it be hitting the stumps? Many software are manipulated nowadays and could this be another instance? 

                I had initially planned to write these here in my blogs but then I had different thoughts as these are a teams winning or losing fortunes and my blogs are read all over (or should I say that the copied material from my blogs is published elsewhere and read by innumerable viewers) which means it would divulge cricket secrets which is usually done by only a Guru to his disciples, who in turn keep it a secret and carry forward the tradition. So, I guess I will not unsettle their tradition. But I wouldn't mind supporting such tradition of a coach and team strategist and do good for Indian cricket and help in evolving better cricketers.    IPYadav  

                     By the way, I take this opportunity to invite prebooking for my book which would most likely be an e-book with a little help from AI and price is still not contemplated! You have my emails, my mobile numbers, my Facebook id as well as this blog itself to put your responses. So far you all have not been able to reach me, let's see now. Warning - don't fall into blockholes of friends or fiends who try to make a business for themselves from the entity of my blogs, my websites and myself. I have not authorized anybody and all their business becomes illegal.