While the exploits of India’s Pant and Australian Khawaja indicate that batsmen are becoming increasingly more audacious in approach and strokeplay, Test captains are going in the opposite direction
Australia captain Pat Cummins, who did not enforce the follow on despite a 408-run lead over Pakistan in the Karachi Test recently. Pic/Getty Images
The game of cricket is replete with ironies; arguing about the spirit of cricket when the non-striker is run-out by the bowler in a game where sledging is seen as a test of character. Video decisions agonising over a no-ball that may be a millimetre over the line when the non-striker is clearly seen backing up a metre too far.
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Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman’s heroics at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata in 2001 (the 21st anniversary was celebrated only recently) have left an indelible ironic legacy that is now being played out the world over.
The penchant for risk-taking by the modern batsman has never been more vividly displayed than Usman Khawaja trying to reverse sweep on 97 in the first Test at Rawalpindi and perishing. For those of who buried our heads in our hands and asked ‘why’, the current generation will counter with ‘why not?’
Anytime Rishabh Pant bats, almost irrespective of game situation, the Riskter Scale blows a valve. Indians are learning to live with the highs and lows of his audacity. When it comes off, the game is turned on its head in an instant. When it fails, we are becoming ever more sanguine.
This is where that Dravid-Laxman partnership has taken us. The irony is that as batsmen become increasingly more audacious, Test captains are going in the opposite direction. And the reasons are intertwined in each other. Unless there is bad weather around, it is now almost unheard of to see the follow-on being enforced. A lead of 408 in Karachi last week and the follow-on was eschewed.
So why is this happening? Because after THAT Test in Kolkata when THAT partnership of 376 led to India turning a first innings deficit of 274 into a lead of 383 and then skittling Australia out for 212 on the last day, the rate of scoring now makes captains nervous about surrendering a position of strength to possibly having to defend grimly on Day Five. Whilst Dravid and Laxman didn’t score at breakneck speed, they nonetheless accelerated to 3.5+ RPO, almost unthinkable in that era for a team following on against a bowling attack comprising Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie, Shane Warne and Michael Kasprowicz.
India then went on to bowl Australia out for 212, knocking over the likes of Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Steve and Mark Waugh, Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist. Those scars have left a deep imprint on all captains ever since.
Which then explains why teams rarely enforce the follow-on. Teams like New Zealand and Pakistan against strong bowling attacks like India and Australia are saved the ignominy of following on because the ghost of Dravid and Laxman hovers over them. Rarely do teams attempt to draw a game by blocking it out. South Africa have done it a few times in the last decade including impossibly dour innings from the likes of AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis and Hashim Amla. That is a testament to their versatility and all-round batsmanship where they were not only brilliant short-form cricketers but also showcased a skillset that is so under-valued in the contemporary game. Heroic innings are now more commonly recounted when describing audacious batting like Pant in Brisbane (2021) and Ben Stokes in Headingley (2019).
In the second Test in Karachi (which ended in a tense draw) it might explain why Pat Cummins began his bowling innings with a fielder at deep point having already amassed 556 and it was puzzling to see debutant leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson bowling with three men in the deep but it probably boils down to this fear of not squandering a massive lead, just in case someone scores fast enough to suddenly make the hunter the hunted. It’s this sort of irony that is changing the face of cricket, attacking batting leading to ultra-conservative captaincy by fielding teams.
It would have been interesting to see Cummins and Babar Azam’s tactics in Lahore with Australia eking out 391. Trying to avoid batting last on Day Five was always a goal, but Pakistan’s top order easily avoided the follow on before its long tail suddenly swung this game back to a more traditional script.
On a pitch keeping so low, maybe even the artistry of a Laxman or Dravid clone (and Azam is every bit as classy!) will not scare Australia into batting too long into Day Four.
Unlike yesterday in Lahore, can you imagine Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan or Anil Kumble bowling to a sweeper at deep point when defending 500+? Maybe that’s the key word…defending. In that era, the likes of Warne would be ‘attacking’ 500, not defending! But even Warne’s genius wasn’t enough to stop Laxman’s wrists of steel re-writing history.
Next thing we know, we’ll be expecting the fittest cricketers of all time with a team of conditioning staff, sports drinks and ice bath recovery programs, bowling a lot of spin overs to get through 90 overs in the allotted time. There’s irony and then there’s just plain wishful thinking!
Michael Jeh is a Brisbane-based former first-class cricketer
Clayton Murzello’s Pavilion End column will be back next week
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