IPL and beyond

It was great to return to India after the IPL and begin a tour with the one-day team with whom I had not worked before. I was a little apprehensive about how the first few days with this team would unfold as I felt there would be a major "hangover" from hustle and bustle of the 20-over game.

But I was pleasantly surprised to find a group of individuals who have very quickly adapted their thinking and their skills to the longer version of the one-day game. I was also encouraged by their desire to play for India again and what it means to each one of these players to represent their country.

Many people have asked me about my thoughts on the IPL and whether this style of cricket will influence the way 50-over cricket and even Test cricket is played. In my opinion, they are three totally different formats, each requiring completely different sets of skills.

The most successful batsmen in the IPL appeared to be the players who could get the ball to the boundary, in unconventional ways, more consistently than others. A lot of this was pure "power hitting" - baseball style, with players setting a good base to swing from, squaring up there shoulders through contact and driving through with their hips to gain maximum power.

Naturally, because of variable conditions, the risk of this style of play is high and not necessarily suited to the 50-over format where boundary options with less risk are required.

I believe the more ‘conventional’ player, who still has boundary-hitting ability, will be more successful and not exploited by quality fast bowling in 50-over cricket. Whereas a 50-run partnership in five overs will play a huge part in the success of a Twenty 20 game, the same result in a 50-over game, while being very handy, will not necessarily prove to be match-winning.

Fifty-over cricket requires a combination of good hitting ability and the skill to manipulate the field and ‘work’ the ball so as to eliminate risk (as far as possible) and enable the team to reach scores in excess of 270 on good surfaces.

With the help of Paddy [Upton] and the rest of the support staff, we are trying to set up an environment where each and every player feels comfortable in his role, what is expected of him and what he can achieve for the team.

Each player comes to the team with a different set of skills and it will be our responsibility to find his place in the team, where he is most effective and where he can optimise his abilities. In this way, he benefits the team and optimises the effectiveness of the unit.

We still have a way to go in understanding what our most effective combinations are, but I'm very excited about the talent that is on display and our goal is to put a squad of players together which can dominate this version of the game over a sustained period.

Otherwise, Paddy and I have been spending many hours together plotting the way forward and working out ways to help these extremely special players to get the best out of themselves. It’s been fun and they are a great bunch of guys to work with. Paddy's free-spirited thinking came into play at practice a couple of days ago when he decided to bat in the nets wearing a bulletproof vest and riot police helmet. It created a good laugh amongst the players although I don't think the policeman was that charmed.

I am writing this the day before the final and the players are looking forward to another match-up with their closest rivals, Pakistan. I'm sure Pakistan will lift their performance considerably from a couple of days earlier when we won by 140 runs, so we are expecting a tougher contest. We will be focusing on making sure that we execute our skills as best as we can on the day as well as enjoy the contest. We hope you do, too!