161023 India-Pakistan And England-Afghanistan Matches

 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