Catches win matches - IPL reaffirms the golden rule

Look it’s a bird, no it’s a plane, no it’s superman. NO! It’s a 39-year-old Ricky Ponting. The stadium and the millions of viewers were just awestruck by the mind boggling catch by Punter. If we go into the details of it, Ponting took a start from his position at cover, saw the ball flying off the leading edge of Chand’s bat, turned in that direction, slipped a bit, but still committing totally, threw himself in the air, horizontal to the ground and pulled off a stunning catch out of thin air. All this in a matter of few seconds.

Be it any form of cricket played on the planet, it is rightly said that catches win matches. As the veterans point out, in a Test match, the team that takes 20 wickets wins the match. But fielding efforts lift the morale of the team, especially on placid sub-continent pitches, where fielding is of the utmost importance. The IPL in its first week has seen some stunning catches from Ponting, Pollard, Rahane, Gurkeerat Singh and yesterday by Rahul Dravid.

We have seen the importance of fielding imbibed into the muscle memory of the Australians and the South Africans. The players, from a very young age are made to take fielding seriously like batting or bowling. Add to that the lush green stadiums which make diving around much more easier. Like batting or bowling, fielding needs a lot of practice. The head and feet need to be in the right position to ensure that your hands reach out perfectly to catch the ball. Jonty Rhodes and Paul Collingwood explain the technique behind this amazing art. Each fielding position has its challenges. So, it is extremely important to ensure the fielder knows his basics to save his side a few valuable runs and take the catches.

If you are at any close in positions like a slip, silly point, short leg, you need to bend low with your weight transferred on your toes. This gives you the ability to move quickly if necessary. In the short cover or short mid-wicket region, it is extremely important to focus on the shot and have some great reflexes as the ball travels quickly here. The point, gully and cover region need to anticipate the power of the shot and taking a start enables them to be nimble on their feet and move quickly. Once the basics are followed over and over again, they become a part of your muscle memory. Then whatever be the age, the catch will be taken 9 out of 10 times. Ponting, Hussey, Dravid have proved this.

Historically, Indians have not been great fielders. Barring a few like Eknath Solkar or Nawab Pataudi, Indians have been bad in this area. Blame it partly on the lack of attention given to this department or also on the terrible ground conditions of those times. Robin Singh and Ajay Jadeja changed all this. Fearless and agile, these two threw themselves around the point and cover region and the next generation was noticing something new and they were lapping it up. It was the time when television was starting its advent in all the living rooms of the country. Also BCCI was starting to focus by making the grounds better, appointing fielding coaches, starting the NCA. The result was for everyone to see. The next batch of youngsters had some outstanding fielders. Yuvraj, Kaif led the show. Most recently, Raina, Kohli, Rahane, Sharma and Jadeja are live wires in the field too. India was fortunate in the slip cordon with Dravid and Laxman. Now post them, it is going to be the youngsters who need to fill that void.

The cricket is getting competitive and so has the fielding. The efforts to take the catch on the boundary ropes are now a treat to watch. The ball which was most certainly going to clear the boundary line is first caught by an off balance fielder, then he throws the ball into the playing area, goes beyond the boundary rope, comes back in the playing area and completes the catch. What a visual treat this is to the eye and the artist does it with ease like a painter does with his brush strokes. I am sure that we will all see more such innovations coming up, just as the batsman tries to invent new strokes to get more runs.

These moments of brilliance will get better by the day and we are bound to see much better and intense cricket, which as we all can agree, is what a viewer craves for.