That Fascinating NEW-FANGLED Battle

IPL is over. The two month’s carnival is over. For the starters, it might appear as the conclusion of long cricketing calendar, so they might think that players enjoy their time here. For those who closely follow it, know that players give more than their 100 percent here, no matter whether he is the captain of the Australia, who has to lead his team in an important tour just after or the veteran, who had played the full season and is constantly pushing his body over the line. And no wonder that it happens. Money involved is just too much. And what about the end of the season? Well it never ends now-a-days! Now back to real cricket.

If this IPL had produced any major takeaways, as far as Indian viewpoint is considered, the bowling of Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and the superlative batting of Virat Kohli are the ones. And as used to as we are now, seeing Kohli play those unbelievable knocks at almost will now, it’s time to ponder over one of the most fascinating question in the world of batting today.

Once, there was a time when we used to wonder who the best was among Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting and Brian Lara? That question never got answered in an absolute sense as all of them were statistically better in different segments of batting. As famous as Tendulkar is for scoring the most runs and centuries, Ponting had a superior average and Lara is well renowned for his humongous scores in individual innings. And all the three had a very distinct kind of cricketing flair. So it can be gauged from these facts that how imprudent it is to compare them. Though comparisons are inevitable.

So now we are experiencing the new era of comparisons, major among them is an exciting rivalry for supremacy. The battle of bats between Virat, Steven Smith, Kane Williamson and Joe Root is one to really savour and is surely one, which ensures endless raging debates. With those comes the implausible inaccuracies and extensive exaggeration. Who doesn’t want a taste of this mouth-watering contest? So here is a personal take on this debate.

Seeing all of them is a joy to watch, a scene to behold for every cricket fan across the world. No matter whether they are playing against the team you support, their craftiness would definitely touch the artistic side of your mind which momentarily overpowers your competitive instinct. And what they really bring to the table for their respective teams? The calm assuredness, the serene stability and the butterflies in the opposition’s stomach.

All of them are consistently proving their mettle time and again, outsmarting themselves as much as each other. Players are generally measured by their statistics for getting a factual point of view. So analysing the stats for Test format showcase that Steve Smith is the torch bearer of this exciting crop as his extended purple patch has earned him an enviable average of 60.18 compared to second placed Joe Root’s 54.46 after 41 tests. Virat, who too had played the same number of tests, has the worse average among them, 44.02, quite unflattering for all his exploits. His underwhelming start and the nightmare he faced in England contributed in that as opposed to the consistency shown by Smith and Root. Kane though boasts and average of 49.23, which is quite good, though pales in front of the top two. One of the major argument in his favour is the factor that his home pitches still provide considerable support to bowlers as opposed to the flatter tracks provided in India, Australia and England, recently.

One major thing that separates Root and Kane from rest is their ability to score runs everywhere, which is a critical judging parameter. Root’s exploits in the dust bowls are as good as on bouncy tracks or seaming conditions. Williamson, barring in the African soil, has proved his acumen against all the challenging conditions. Smith on the other hand is still untested in every condition as England didn’t provide the typical English surfaces last Ashes and when one came, Smith was unable to halt the Stuart Broad storm. He had given glimpses of handling spin well in the otherwise disastrous tour of India, but he has lot to prove there. Virat on the other hand is yet to get the seaming monkey off his back as he has provided evidence of a more robust technique outside off stump, though his real test would be there only. Having said that, he is in the form of his life and if he can churn out scores like that in T20s with astonishing regularity, he is most likely to iron out his flaws. May be the right time to assess their test averages is after three four years.

As far as shorter formats are considered, Virat is certainly in an altogether different league. Not that other three are lesser capable, they are playing exceptional shorter formats cricket and being the pivots and match winners for their teams, Virat is doing something never seen before. He is a certified match winner, if his team is chasing and the consistency and the ability to conjure up the spirit that every new innings starts on zero and previous innings’ century doesn’t count makes him a limited over great. He boasts an average of 51.51 and has scored 25 centuries in just 121 ODIs. Williamson’s average of 47 makes him best of rest as he had really scored the match winning runs for Kiwis and anchored their attacking line-up. Though he has not played in every bilateral series and that shows where his team wants his priorities to be. Root’s ODI career is taking off nicely in past year and an average of 44.34 indicates that. Perhaps, not giving him the captaincy also helped him not to lose sight of his batting. He is soon becoming the symbol of maturity in the English batting order.

Smith has been the big match player as he showcased in the World Cup semis against India, though he seems to be out of groove generally in the shorter formats as he averages 40.03.Maybe the captaincy would coax him to raise his level.

Enough of stats now. What excites a real cricket fan is the cricketing virtues like aesthetics, consistency, leading from the front, handling the pressure of condition and opposition and then coming out triumphant time and again. All the four has showcased their mettle.

Virat’s wristy cover drives and flicks are a treat to watch and the way he increased his array to possibly play every cricketing shot to perfection makes him the man for whom you would easily pay to watch him playing that fearless brand of cricket. Is the team is in deep shit? No problem Virat is there to do the impossible. On top of that, his extreme fitness is one of the assets for him. For a bottom handed player, playing cricket in that orthodox and consistent way is a thing to marvel. Those wrists would definitely fetch insurmountable amount in a hypothetical auction.

If you see that lanky guy with those languid flow of bat, which sometimes cut the ball in a swift knife like action and pulls and hook it at will. In addition if you’re seeing all that action from him standing on his back-foot and decimating opposition with his baby faced smile and a picture perfect back-foot straight drive. You’re seeing the genius from Yorkshire casting his magic spells with his wand in his hand and hypnotizing the opposition with his smile. Joey is the future of England’s leadership and is now among the bests of this generation.

The man, who win battles with his defiance and those beautiful back-foot punches and glides is the perfect Test batsman, for which any team would die for. He has no secrets, just pure technique right out of the textbook. The perfect absorber of any ball, his soft hands are his primary weapons against misbehaving deliveries. To add salt to the wounds of the bowlers, he would play those impeccable drives and flicks and makes batting look incredibly simple. He is the magician from the Kiwi-land.

Now comes the one, who doesn’t appear magical in his batting. Who seems to unnecessarily fidget and shuffles around like a small kid. Yet those bizarre movements are his main weapon as bowlers seldom have any idea where to bowl at. Those fast whippy hands come into picture and in one swift motion the ball flews away. He is not the most pretty while watching but his record affirms the effectiveness his technique is. The responsibility of leading a young team has spurred him more as he is leading right from front and has posted 14 centuries in just 41 tests, showcasing his prolific form with a technique which appears to have a major chink. But actually that chink is his strongest suit as I mentioned earlier.

As we saw earlier with Sachin, Lara and Ponting, comparing these 4 batting styles, which are world apart right from the stances, strong zones, stronger hand, back-lift and the methodology would not make any sense. If there is a comparison exist apart from the statistical data, it would be that how they transform their potential into match winning batting. Though they have on numerous occasion has defied the following adage by winning/saving matches single-handedly, a batsman is as good as his team, still applies in long term.

The 3 captains have the added responsibility compared to Root, who has a mentor and skipper in Cook with him, who is young enough and expected to continue for some time. Though all 3 relish the challenge in their own way and their team now heavily dependent on the future course, as far as attitude and brand of cricket is considered.

In the clamorous glamour of this competition, one man is plying his trade in an exorbitantly and exuberantly quiet fashion. That southpaw from Down Under, the man who carried a whole batting line-up on his broad shoulders and with the help of his outstanding bowlers to IPL glory, a landmark in this increasingly batting heavy game. Davey still needs to prove in India, but his excellence in Dubai, his exorcising of past ghost of England in the previous Ashes and his impeccability in bouncy southern hemisphere reckons him as another Australian giant run machine in making.

A new era is on the horizon, about to rise, waiting for its rays to penetrate through the increasingly dense atmosphere of this wonderful game called ‘Cricket’.