Batting to a plan

Nathan Astle's strategy to cope with the conditions and the Indian bowlers was masterful. He played mostly on the front foot - 159 off the 207 balls he played, showing minimal footwork on 19 balls and stepping out four times. He played the ball late, allowing it to come to him instead of reaching for it. But when he did rock back, he made it pay; 42 off his 103 runs came off the 25 times he went on the back foot. His strike-rate on the back foot was 168; the rest of the time, it was 35.

As the above statistic indicates, he played the bowling on its merit. Off the 181 occasions that he received a ball on a good length or just short of a good length, he made 57 runs. The 13 balls that the bowlers dropped short to him went for 34 runs. His shot selection was immaculate.

While many of Astle's singles and twos came via sweeps and dabs on the on side, most of his boundaries came from cuts off short balls on the back foot. In terms of runs, Astle's wagons wheel appears quite balanced: 56 runs on the off side, and 47 on the off. But in terms of boundaries, it is decidedly different. Of his 14 fours, 12 came on the off side, with 10 of them in the arc between extra cover and backward point.

New Zealand are known for planning for their opponents and conditions. Clearly, Astle had done his homework exceedingly well.

Amit Varma is managing editor of Wisden Cricinfo in India.