Bowling wins

Day 1, Ranji Trophy 2009-10 final, Karnataka vs Mumbai, Mysore

By Vikram Afzulpurkar

Full marks to Karnataka for being dynamic with their host venue option and choosing Mysore’s Gangotri Glades ground because of the green wicket. Their pacers had pegged out the first three Mumbai batters within the first half hour to leave the hosts at 21 for 3.

No fault of the Mumbai top order
While the credit for hurling the ball in the right area goes to the Karnataka fast bowlers, which yielded the first three wickets, neither of the Mumbai batsmen, Sahil Kukreja, Wasim Jaffer, nor Ajinkya Rahane played injudicious strokes in their dismissals. The grassy wicket's movement and bounce made the ball find the edges of Kukreja and Rahane in what you might call regulation caught-behind dismissals. Jaffer played a shot that anybody in his right mind would do – flick a fast bowler off his hips – but unluckily to give a catch to the forward-short-leg fielder, purely a reflex catch that stuck after some minor juggling. Pacer Vinay Kumar, with his model action, accounted for these three.

Mithun to the fore again
Innovative bowling should win tournaments. The romantic of mind probably remember Pakistan’s World Cup triumph in 1992 and Aquib Javed clean bowling Greatbatch with what turned out to be a finger-spun leg-spinner to the left hander, and then Wasim Akram castling Lamb and Chris Lewis in the final with late reverse swinging balls. It required as much ability as guts in the pressure situations to innovate. Similarly, Indians remember Balwinder Sandhu’s World Cup 1983 final’s ball to Greenidge which famously shattered his stumps while he intended a glorious 'leave.' Did the much touted A Mithun, Karnataka’s find-of-the-season pacer, do the same today? His wickets of two top-class Mumbai left-handers Omkar Khanvilkar and Abhishek Nayar yorked the batsman and probably opened the floodgates.

Mithun read the batsmen well
While Mumbai batted until that point, it seemed that bowling the right length to the batsman would be the theme. After all it was a green wicket that had vindicated itself by at least two dismissals upto that point because of the swing and bounce factor. Planning the executioner's ball, Mithun who was by now really bending his back sent down two old-fashioned yorkers, maybe with a hint of swing in them.

Day of the yorker
A question - Has the yorker otherwise lost its prominence in day to day cricket and instead being replaced with hundreds of variations of a slow ball, the knuckle ball, the across-the-seam grip ball? Are yorkers mostly favoured only when reverse swing is possible with the older ball? Mithun changed the tempo as he actually thought out of the box.

Wicket keeper’s controversy
Well, right from Rod Marsh behind the stumps asking batsman Ian Botham “So, how’s your wife and my kids” to being the vocal therapists of every ball, wicket keepers open up a pandora’s box on the spirit of the game. Today, the Karnataka wicketkeeper chose a quieter route to controversy by apparently running out Agarkar when the batsman safely believed it was a dead ball and for a moment had his feet outside the popping crease when shadow-practising a stroke. Considering that the umpires deliberated over the decision before giving it, therefore expending some time, there seemed to be no effort from Karnataka to recall the appeal. Mumbai will be fuming with this one, but the game goes on. Well, this is now a game that allows the non-striker to back up as much as he wants to while the bowler can do nothing to run him out at his end. So, wont' batting sides that are wronged question the spirit of the game and why the fielding side or even the law not supporting a striker injudicious action.

Jaffer’s life-learning
Vinayak Samant, probably the last of the genuine bastmen, did an admirable job with his 60-odd runs, also displaying the instinct of protecting number 11 batsman Salvi by selective running of singles which would bring the latter on strike. Mumbai will definitely feel proud of their lower order taking them to 233 when earlier in the day 6 wickets had fallen for 106 runs only. Perhaps Wasim Jaffer’s takeaway so far will be to trust the nature of the wicket and deviate from the famous bat-first philosophy, which he adhered to in the morning when he won the toss. He must’ve been thinking that if the last 4 wickets could raise 117 runs, wouldn’t the top 6 have given at least a hundred more to add to the 233? What’s the best way to decide? Take strong local opinion instead of reading the hosts’ newly laid pitch yourself? But then again, had he lost the toss, he would have had to take first strike.

Expect the unexpected
Even though Mumbai is historically a 'batting side,' Karnataka will not take the former's bowling and teamwork lightly on a crucial second day. Mumbai have famously pegged back oppositions in the past, whether with a stack of wickets, runs or catches especially with the chips down.

Match lasting five days?
Maybe too much emphasis is being laid by all –players, coaches, commentators and spectators - on the first innings lead. On this proven greentop, would a game last five days? The cynic feels that even with a speculative first innings score from Karnataka of about 350 by lunch on the third day, giving them the first innings lead, at what rate Mumbai scores its runs in the second innings will tell us if the game is going to head to an outright finish by two innings. If Mumbai's famed batting tank hits up an ambitious 450 in a day and a half, can their bowlers defend a target of, say 325, by bowling out Karnataka in one full day's play, that is, on the final day? But this is mere speculation.

Can Karnataka do a dour defending act in the first innings?
It may be unlikely that Karnataka consume two full days in stretching out their first innings lead, which as an outcome would place them as favourites for winning on the first innings basis. The reason for this is that ultra defensiveness will cause them to lose wickets. With attacking fields set by the Mumbaiites, the Karnataka batters will have to play attacking strokes or hit over the top, therefore increasing the chances for Mumbai to get wickets, which simultaneously enabling Karnataka to get quick runs.