Why Daredevils and Royal Challengers are bucking the chasing trend

Twenty20 is an unfair sport. The side batting second has a massive advantage: by knowing the target, they can use their batting resources accordingly. As the contest gets longer, the batting resources have to be used judiciously, which evens the game. In T20s, the conditions don't deteriorate that much, and the side batting first - not knowing what a good score is - runs a big risk of either under-utilising its batting resources or failing by aiming too high.

As most of T20 cricket is played in the night, dew further disadvantages the team batting first. It has become a largely predictable sport, in that the chasing side ends up winning with more than what can be termed as fair regularity.

In the 2016-17 Big Bash League, teams chose to bat first in seven out of 35 matches, and lost each of those. Overall, 12 out of 35 matches were won by teams batting first. In last year's IPL, teams willingly batted first on 11 occasions out of 59, and that resulted in only two wins. Overall, 19 out of 59 matches were won by sides batting first. In the previous CPL, only five of the 34 tosses resulted in sides batting first, which in turn resulted in no success. In the 2017 PSL, only once did a team choose to bat first.

Yet, during the current IPL, sides batting first have won 40% of the 20 matches so far, which is a better rate than expected. Two sides - Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore - have willingly chosen to bat first; the four matches that they have won between them have been successful defences. They both started doing so out of necessity.

In the match between Daredevils and Royal Challengers, the fifth of this season, Royal Challengers chose to bat first. They scored an underwhelming 157 and ended up defending it. Look at those two batting units: Royal Challengers were missing Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers and Daredevils were missing Quinton de Kock and JP Duminy, who are out for the season.

Their batting resources don't seem as abundant as are required in predictable chase-and-wins. Both batting units were inexperienced, in that they couldn't call on bankable T20 gun batsmen, who back themselves to chase 11-12 runs an over in the end overs. Batting first allows them to bat without the pressure of being active in the decisive moments of the match.

This is more so the case with Daredevils, who have a better bowling unit compared to their batting. Just as a strong batting side backs itself to chase whatever is put in front of it, this Daredevils side is asking the experienced bowling unit to defend. Sanju Samson, for example, now has the freedom to go through a mid-innings slowdown as he did in two of his big innings this season, without having to worry too much about a rising asking rate. Batting first in all IPLs, he averages 31 and strikes at 132 per 100 balls as against 23 and 115 in chases.

Rahul Dravid, the former India ODI captain, had gone through a phase where he would chase if he won the toss irrespective of the conditions or the opposition. That was at a time when India were not a good chasing side, and as Greg Chappell, the then coach, wrote in Timeless Steel, Dravid wanted the side to learn chasing. Dravid, the Daredevils coach, is unlikely to be going out of the way to bat first so that his bowlers can learn how to defend. It is likelier that he has an unbalanced squad, and he is taking the tougher route to competitiveness.

The case might be slightly different with Royal Challengers even though they batted first against Daredevils, after having failed to come close in a chase against Sunrisers Hyderabad. They felt it was easier for the batting unit missing Kohli and de Villiers to just bat. However, last year, they were the only side that had an even record when batting first. That, though, came through their gigantic first-innings scores via the big hitting of Chris Gayle, Kohli and de Villiers. They have the firepower to consistently score over 200: in the last 10 matches at their home ground before this IPL, five scores of over 200 were defended successfully, and five others of under 200 were chased down.

This year, the pitch in Bengaluru has been different too, either by design or because of the new drainage system. Whatever be the reason, the pitch in Bengaluru has been dry, and the evening dew has not been able to make the ball skid.

A lot of T20 is about tactics and strategy, but the value of improvising cannot be overstated. Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders don't need to make such an adjustment so they will continue chasing. It's quite possible Daredevils might grow confident in their batting and might revert to the more trusted T20 strategy of chasing in the second half of their season. It is quite possible Royal Challengers' bowlers might fail them in a tall defence, and they might end up going back to chasing.

However, these imperfect sides and their adjustment to the imperfections is proof that T20 hasn't yet become the opposite of what WG Grace is known to have said: win the toss and chase; if you are in doubt, think about it, and chase.