Top Stable, Middle Topsy-Turvy!

India’s batting reigns supreme but its under-cooked middle-order needs a spark. Hopefully it will acquire energy soon.

- K. C. Vijaya Kumar

Cricket’s ancient batting template of opening with a defensive bat and a circumspect approach followed by middle order consolidation and exuberance, has long been altered both in Tests and limited overs cricket. The buccaneers of change were a bunch of men,who could shred the leather off the red cherry or the white ball, and these were openers who were more contemporary than classical.

Even in Tests, where the accent is still on the slow start and a yearning for a no-loss scorecard on the first day’s lunch, the pirates of destruction have found their ways to sprinkle adrenaline on the turf and do a tapdance on the 22 yards.

It could be a sacrilege for the connoisseurs but players like the great West Indian Gordon Greenidge; maverick Indians K. Srikkanth and Virender Sehwag; and Aussie Michael Slater, to name a few from the longer format, believed in the simple motto of ‘see ball, hit ball’.

And a strange thing happened in ODIs where batting tumult is a natural thanks to having abridged overs and where quick runs are as essential as two-minute noodles and instant coffee for the harried working professionals at bustling offices. The shorter version helped the above mentioned batting marauders to flourish and it also encouraged men who were middle-order stalwarts or lower-order bulwarks to fancy themselves having a biff atop the batting tree.