Dhoni & India Can't Innovate

[kissan]

As Glenn Maxwell was hammering India’s bowlers to all parts of the ground during the first warm-up game, the commentators told an interesting story.

"Xavier Doherty told us about how for the best part of 30 minutes [in the nets], Maxwell tried to reverse sweep every ball that was bowled at him. The length didn't matter and neither did the line," the commentator said.

The story shows Maxwell, who can be unstoppable when he gets going, doesn’t do everything by the spur of the moment. He does the hard yards to ensure that he can innovate in the middle and manipulate the field with his shot-making.

AB De Villiers is at the opposite end of the stick. He moves around in the crease, creates new angles, plays the scoop, the reverse sweep, sweeps the fast bowlers but he doesn't practice those shots at all. It works for him -- as was evident during his stunning 31-ball century against the West Indies recently.

Maxwell is a superbly innovative player. Getty Images

De Villiers was recently asked if he practised those shots in the nets so that they became automatic once he was out in the middle but his reply was an emphatic 'no'. He said it was pure instinct and gut feel.

England skipper Eoin Morgan made his name as a batsman with a 360 degree view but he acquired it in different way to the other two. After he made the Middlesex one-day team, he struggled to hit the ball over the long straight boundaries at Lord’s. His solution was to go square instead. Unorthodoxy trumped convention.

Morgan’s anticipation is world-class and that makes him pretty much impossible to bowl to when he gets going because it is never possible to cover all the angles.

What De Villiers, Maxwell and Morgan have in common is they think about ways to unsettle the bowler. Their ability to come up with innovative shots has made them a scourge of bowlers all around the world.

The new field restrictions that allow only a maximum of four fielders outside the 30-yard circle have created many more gaps in the field for the batsmen to exploit. But if you rely only on conventional shots, it is possible for the fielding side to come up with a plan.

With innovative shots, you also have the chance of changing the course of the match very quickly, something we have seen Maxwell, De Villiers, Morgan and others do regularly.

Adam Gilchrist, who redefined power-hitting in the modern era, believes that no delivery is safe anymore.

"Obviously innovations have been there in the game earlier, it is just that the frequency of innovative shots have increased manifold. I was flabbergasted to see Jonty Rhodes play a reverse sweep in the 1990s, not the dab, but the hard smack for six, in 1997. So innovation isn't new but the variety is increasing," he said. "It's amazing to see where they can hit the ball these days - no ball is safe."

Maxwell's shots off Akshar Patel were a prime example of that. Akshar was bowling into the batsman's legs but the right-hander was able to reverse-hit the ball square on the offside. In another age, such a shot would have been an impossibility but now it is the norm.

It is hard, however, to think of one batsman in the India squad who plays the scoop or the reverse sweep regularly. The height of India's innovation at the moment seems to be the upper cut or the unintended french cut. There is also Dhoni's 'Helicopter' shot but that can be played only to a very specific ball.

"Obviously 2015 World Cup will be a little different,” Sachin Tendulkar said. “It is going to be a lot more competitive and important. The rules having changed, and with 20-20 changing the norm in cricket, new and innovative batting styles are coming to the fore.”

Tendulkar and Ganguly, in their own way brought innovation to the opening slot in ODI cricket. They weren't just pinch hitters and their batting made India a potent force. This time around, India are facing a surprising innovation deficit - surprising simply because given the amount of T20 (read IPL) cricket the Indians play, they should have picked up a few more tricks.

It seems likely they will rely on the tried and tested in the 2015 World Cup, which in this day and age can also perhaps be read as tired and bested.

[SeelamleniAunty]

[Jambhalheart]

we dont have innovation we have imitation

[SeelamleniAunty]

we dont have innovation we have imitation

[Maximus]