The unorthodox at it again

With the emergence of IPL, emerged a new breed of players whose playing style and technique, or rather the lack of it, was scorned upon by the purists. Out came batsmen, who would be found wanting to even get bat to ball in testing conditions but were pretty adept at reverse sweeping full length deliveries for sixes over third man. The good old flighted spinning deliveries were given a miss in favor of darts thrown at the block hole. They were mighty effective but the true connoisseur found them ugly and unattractive.

The team owners in IPL on the other hand, developed an instant liking for this breed. Suddenly a Yusuf Pathan, who is lightyears away from a Test spot, started commanding a much bigger price than Rahul Dravid. While legends like Muthiah Muralitharan found themselves on the bench, a Shadab Jakati went on to establish himself as an indispensable part of his team. Even though veterans like Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis and Shane Warne proved that Twenty20 cricket can be conquered by traditional means, the bits and pieces players always had their share of the pie.

The recent thrashing of Piyush Chawla at the hands of an unorthodox Robin Peterson in the Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab clash at Mohali has once again opened up the debate of specialists versus the unconventionalists. With 32 to defend in the last 12 balls, it was KXIP’s match to lose. Chawla, with textbook action for a leg spinner, in the penultimate over, ran out of ideas as the quick thinking pair of Peterson and Ambati Rayudu ran riot.

Here’s another look at the over that robbed the hosts of another match

First ball, 4: An regular length ball from Chawla but some premeditation and brilliant execution of a reverse sweep from Peterson sent the ball over the thirdman and into the boundary.

Second ball, 4: With Peterson looking to premeditate, Chawla decided to bowl one short and fast. But the South African’s reverse sweep connected once again and he almost smashed a six in the cover boundary region.

Third Ball, 6: Chawla now decides to go full again but Peterson was up to the task. He now employed the traditional slog sweep and the ball sailed over the square leg boundary.

Fourth ball, 1: Peterson tried the reverse sweep again but hit it straight to the fielder at cover and the batsmen completed a tight single. Rayudu had the strike now.

Fifth ball, 6: Chawla tossed it up and bowled wide of Rayudu but the right hander stepped out of his crease and made good use of his reach to sent the ball over long off.

Sixth ball, 6: Chawla changed his line and went for middle and leg stump line. But it made no difference as Rayudu once again gave the charge and smashed Chawla many rows back over the long on boundary.

27 off the over and with just five required off the final over, it was almost as good as over for the home team.