ICC World Cup 2023 is only 28 days away, still some time left but surely this event is verily looked after by coaches, players and other members of the teams who will be travelling to India for the ultimate event. The most talked about point at this moment is how the pitches are going to behave in World Cup, to get an idea of its nature and make their plans accordingly.
India is a vast continent, there is so much difference between two taken pitches so there is no common assessment that can be valuable for all of them. For example, the pitch of Chennai will be seemingly indifferent to the pitch of Mumbai. The pitch of Chennai will definitely assist spinners and will remain two paced throughout the game so the bowlers will dominate the game. On the other hand, the pitch of Mumbai will definitely have good bounce, it will swing throughout the game so pacers but because of the red soul and even bounce, it will be fantastic track to bat on.
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One can’t accurately tell by experience what a certain pitch is like, sometimes the results are quite suprising. Understandably, a team should be ready to adapt to the need of the moment, pitches are part of a wide perspective because in the end, in a tight game of a big tournament, as a captain in the field, your decisions will be based on the given situation which is generally where your team is and what you want it to be.
Something for the bowlers
The ODI game has transformed noticably in last 6-8 years. The settings of the game remain same but the batters’ approach has vastly changed, players tend to be aggresive and firm, some of them rely on their natural ability to dominate the bowlers, that has lessened if not eliminated the pitch factor.
The decks in India in last few months have been very docile to the batters. In the World Cup, there will be fresh pitches so the stereotype that the pitches will be spin friendly straightaway is not a correct assessment. Fresh pitches after rainy season, will get enough sunlight, most of the matches are expected to be high scoring encounters.
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As the tournament will progress, the pitches will wear out and then, the variety of bowling options will come handy. Whether it is about pace or spin, the skillset and accuracy will be needed nonetheless, rest of the work will be done by pitch itself. In India, a team needs such a set of bowlers who can think out of the box and force a batter to commit a mistake or a false shot because what we have seen in last few months, the game has favoured batters in India.
Unexpectedly, some pitches might come on the slower side, but then comes execution of plans and discipline from a bowling perspective and if that hasn’t been done rightly, the problem remains because once a batters gets going on subcontinent pitches, a century of an individual is always in the game. A set batter is a set batter regardless of the pitch conditions.
Adapting to the conditions
There are some smart bowlers who can adapt to the conditions and can get the job done. Every professional team has a couple of bowlers like that. That will be a key to success in this World Cup 2023 because pitches will help skillful bowlers. The pitch of Ahmedabad, Wankhede and Bengaluru are going to be flat, it will be a test for the bowlers who don’t hurry up things, who trust their abilities and aren’t afraid of getting hit, will definitely succeed.
In Chennai, in Pune, in Kolkata, the pitches will be different in entirety. In those conditions, the basics of bowling will be useful, for spinners and pacers alike, it will be a fair competition between bat and ball. Throughout IPL 2023, Chennai remained a tough wicket to bat on but some batters found a definite success there.
It is not going to be as bad as cricket pundits are assuming, especially, knowing that the home side itself is trying to settle a team which has a batting depth to number 8 which tells us that the pitches will be batting friendly. Only after few matches, they might show some signs of wear and tear and keep bowlers in the game beyond their skills.
A Fair Assesment
The traditional way of looking at a match was a that a team assessed the pitch and thought what will be a par score on this track, the developed their entire plan based on that assessment. So everything was predetermined, even from bowling perspective, the numbers took a lot of space in the plan but in current game mood, whether bowlers and batters, they want to be agressive, they want to have the upper hand.
Perspectives have changed, the only fair assessment that a modern team believes is the assessment of self-abilites, what they are capable of not what the game is going to offer them. If there is a team with players who can capable of scoring 320 because of their batting strength and depth, then from a bowling perspective, it is unlikely that all the decisions made according to pitch will work sufficiently well.
In the end, it is a competition between bat and ball, players have evolved with their own natural style which is distinct from others. The details have become part of the game, five batters is a thing to say but upon looking individually, there are five different roles who are who are capable of changing their gears and moods according to the situation.
The 2019 World Cup had a similiar kind of theme, prior to the event, the matches in England were high scoring encounters, the English team coming out as the dominant ground in most of these matches. However, the World Cup matches were relatively low scoring yet England, despite the all attack mindset, not only reached to the finals but successfully won it for the first time. All because the players understood their roles.
A fair assesment but not always work but it is definitely a good knowledge to have in the back of your head. Every surface has its own nature, so from that perspective, a fair assessment will prove crucial but it should be fluid, and impressible to changes according to a given scenario.
What should be bowling formation according to the pitches?
This is variable question, a team cannot expect to have a certain set of bowlers and use them convincingly for desired outcome. Changes will be required which will be a conundrum for coaches and captains to sort out who is going to play and who’s not. In current scenario, a team like Australia looks to have a perfect set of bowlers. They have got two frontline hit the deck and swing-the-ball fast bowlers, two skilled pacers who can mix things up and two spinners – one left arm orthodox and another traditional leg spinner.
The important thing for Australia is in these six bowling options, they have got 3 proper batters who can hit the ball long away as well as play sensible innings if the situation demands. England is trying to work out on a similar kind of formation. Pakistan is another team that has its core strength in diverse and effective bowling unit, they have a very fierce and effective bowlers in their side.
Two frontline spinners are going to be essential for a team throughout the tournament, not only because pitches will be spin friendly but in the middle overs when batters will try to take away the game, spinners will have the opportunity to either to stem the run flow, to slow down things a bit or have some heart and let the batter take the risk to hit him big, the result might go in bowler’s favour.
Pacers have to be attacking from get go, it’s hard to find a right length to bowl in India. In Australia or South Africa, a fast bowler knows that a genuine hard length bowling will trouble a batter throughout the game because it bounces and steams in. On Indian pitches, because of the lack of bounce, pacers will need to mix things up, swings potentially early on in the innings then all kinds of cutters and slower balls will be a remedy for the bowlers.
In short, the pitches are a definite factor considering what will be plans in the upcoming ODI World Cup but more than that, high quality skills of a bowling unit will decide how far a team will fair in World Cup.
