Rajasthan Royals’ head coach talks about goals, challenges, and the advantage of multiple World Cup winners in the squad

Interview by Andrew Miller14-Sep-2020It’s your first big IPL assignment, albeit in very unusual circumstances. How are you feeling ahead of the challenge?
I’m just grateful for the opportunity to play cricket in the current landscape, to be quite honest. The BCCI and the cricketing community have done a fantastic job to get this tournament up and running, and it’s so far so good in terms of the preparation. Everyone’s got here safely so far, and we’re just waiting for the international players to join us from the England bubble and complete our full roster.Clearly there are some decisions to be made about quarantine periods, if there are any, and whether those guys [group of players from the ongoing England v Australia series] are going to be available for the first game. But we’ve got a few plans in place – with and without [them] – and we’re preparing for both scenarios.The mental side of the game could be especially important this season after such a prolonged lockdown.
Tournaments are won and lost on and off the field at the best of times, but this year off the field is critically important. We will need to create options within the restricted confines of the bubble, and keep our guys balanced and sometimes get their minds away from cricket.We’ll look to have gatherings at certain times and give the guys different stimulus, in and out of the bubble, to create the sort of environment that they normally have, where they can get away from the game and aren’t just switched on to cricket all the time.That’s one challenge for us. The other will come once the first team is picked. At that moment, there will be 14 players who aren’t involved and 11 who are. Managing those guys to keep them ready and prepared is a great challenge in any tournament, but more so in this one, to my mind.

Steve Smith is clearly the captain, but it’s great to have other guys in supporting roles, with the ability to think on their feet when things don’t go to plan…we’ve got Sanju [Samson], who thinks differently to Smudge, who thinks differently to [Robin] Uthappa. And there’s Jos [Buttler]…Andrew McDonald on Royals’ leadership group

Rajasthan has positioned itself as the ‘English’ IPL franchise in recent seasons. How helpful will it be to have a range of overseas players who have got meaningful match practice under their belts?
Definitely, match-hardened players will have an advantage. We’ve had to be creative to overcome the restrictions on practice games, but with a significant percentage of our group having already played, it positions us quite well. Then again, they’ve had the challenges of the bubble in England already, so when they come into another bubble, that might well be something that we need to manage along the wayThis tournament is going to be all about managing the individual. The collective team goal is at stake, obviously, but we will have to assess all 25 players, and tailor their individual programmes for individual needs, and individual time away. And that includes the coaching staff too. Sometimes we forget that coaches are going through exactly the same thing, so we’ll need to have an understanding of where everyone’s at throughout the tournament. If we can manage that well, it might give us a slight advantage. Who knows?ALSO READ: Interview with David Miller: ‘I want to finish games like Dhoni does’There’s doubt about Ben Stokes’ involvement in this year’s IPL. Quite apart from the personal issues he’s going through, that’s a big hole to fill in your middle order?
First and foremost, thoughts with the Stokes family. It’s a difficult scenario, so we’re giving him as much time as he needs, and connecting with him as best we can. So yeah, we’re not sure where Stokesy’s at right now, but once it has played out, then we can make our decisions from there. But I don’t want to second-guess what will happen with him just yet.How about Steven Smith? He missed two Australia ODIs with concussion. Is that a concern for the squad right now?
Steve Smith is a bit more clear-cut, I think. He needs a little bit of time, it was a short turnaround between game one and two where the concussion happened, so I’d imagine there were some lingering side effects. They’ll be erring on the side of caution, so hopefully [they will] see him out there again on Wednesday [for the third ODI against England in Manchester].You’re going to have other moving parts throughout the tournament. There will be injuries, fatigue, all sorts of things. So while there’s speculation around where Smudger’s at, and Stokesy, we feel we’ve got some good coverage to be able to play different ways.We’ve added some depth in terms of our left-hand batting, in particular in [Anuj] Rawat and [Yashashvi] Jaiswal among the home-grown players, so we think we’ve got some options there. The way we set up at the auction, we feel we can structure our side up to three or four different ways.4:47

Will Yashasvi Jaiswal be breakthrough star for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2020?

And what about David Miller? As the England-Australia T20Is showed, it’s increasingly difficult for middle-order players to hit the ground running. He’s got a proven ability to do just that.
He’s definitely one of the most devastating finishers in the game, but it’s a really thankless task too. We critique and criticise those guys probably a bit too much. They’re the guys that either fail or succeed at the end there, and there’s a lot more failures than successes within that role. We understand that and, yeah, we’re gearing David up for that role but potentially other roles too, depending on the surfaces and the opposition.He’s got great flexibility. He was at Kings XI [Punjab] for a long time, so I’m hoping that that change of environment sparks his best form. He’s really fitted into our environment well. He was the first overseas player to land, which is great because usually you don’t get access to the overseas guys until 10 days out or sometimes less. He’s been nothing but fantastic so far for the group, helping our young left-handers in particular, and just creating energy around the group. And his fielding is second to none.ALSO READ: Royals’ Yashasvi Jaiswal among promising uncapped Indian batsmenIt feels like a big tournament for Yashasvi Jaiswal. Is he ready to make the step-up from his starring role at the Under-19 World Cup earlier this year?
The step from Under-19 cricket to first-class cricket and the IPL is still a significant one and we’re not sure how that will go for him. But everything he’s done on the training ground and in the first practice game suggests that he will make that leap.But not everything is on him. There’s other guys as well – Anuj Rawat, Manan Vohra is an experienced player who’ll be in and around that as well. Shashank Singh has had a fantastic training block as well. But definitely Jaiswal’s one to watch. We’re excited if he does get exposure in this tournament; we feel like we’ve got one for the future there, no doubt.We’re not sure where we’ll bat Jaiswal yet. As a left-hander, he could maybe go at the top, or in the middle against spin, because last year we had that run of right-handers which was very easy for the opposition to prepare against and play against. We feel as though that we’ve got some left-handed options that can disrupt the tactics of the opposition, so it’s really about where we place them, and at what time.What do you make of your leadership group? There seem to be plenty of candidates to lead the side, particularly if Smith or Buttler are absent.
Steve Smith is clearly the captain, but it’s great to have other guys in supporting roles, with the ability to think on their feet when things don’t go to plan. We’ve got some really good minds out there, and they’re all different as well which is great. If you’ve got guys that all think similarly, then sometimes you probably get the same result.But we’ve got Sanju [Samson], who thinks differently to Smudge, who thinks differently to [Robin] Uthappa. And there’s Jos, a fantastic player who’s had a fantastic summer for England, and there’s no surprises in him performing at the level that he does.Andrew McDonald, Rajasthan’s head coach, with Zubin Bharucha, head of cricket•Rajasthan RoyalsThere’s a predominance of right-arm seam in your attack, albeit boasting a range of different styles. Are you happy with the variety you can bring to your best XI?
I think so. Obviously, there’s Jofra [Archer] – there’s not two of him, there aren’t many similarities between him and other bowlers in the world. Oshane Thomas can do a role up front, in particular with steep bounce and serious ball speed.Then we’ve got Tom Curran, who, in every game, he wants the ball at the death and he’s got good yorkers and variations. And then there’s AJ Tye, a guy who was coming off a long-term injury. He might have been touch-and-go for the original tournament, but potentially Covid gave him a little bit of extra time.ALSO READ: Preview: Combination questions for Royals with Stokes doubtfulYou mentioned the left-arm angle and left-arm quicks, they are scarce in the marketplace, so we feel as though we’ve got a good one in JD [Jaydev Unadkat].You go into each auction and you look at the left-arm quicks, there’s not many out there so, yeah, it’s supply and demand really. Would we like more depth in that area? Potentially, but we’ve got some good complementary skill sets in Varun [Aaron] and [Ankit] Rajpoot, who we traded for. We feel as though he’s got some good variations and skills, and those two right-armers in particular are quite different. So it gives us more flexibility and then also we’ve got Aakash Singh, who’s our left-arm guy who we potentially can develop, hopefully if he’s fast-tracked, in this tournament. Yeah, he may surprise a few towards the middle and back end of the tournamentAnd there’s [Kartik] Tyagi as well, coming out of the Under-19 World Cup. It’s a little bit of the unknown stepping up from that U-19 level into the IPL, but so far so good with those two young bowlers, Tyagi and Aakash. And Aakash, a young left-armer, so that’s a premium; [he] gives us back-up to JD if something were to go wrong there.How exciting is it to see Jofra’s white-ball form? He’s been at the top of his game against Australia.
He lights it up, doesn’t he? There’s moments in games where he senses it and he goes for it. He’s exciting; you never know what you’re going get with great fast bowlers and although he’s got a long way to go to be in that sort of conversation, he’s stepping his way towards that, isn’t he?How much of a lift will it give the squad to be able to take the field with potentially three of the key architects [Stokes, Buttler, and Archer] of England’s World Cup victory last year?
We’re very, very fortunate to have such players within our set-up. Steve Smith, in 2015, is another. It gives you great confidence that their skill-sets held up under such extreme pressure. To be the favourites heading in their home tournament, to have a slight wobble, and then to forge a way through, shows great character but also skill, because character and temperament are one thing, but that group [England in 2019 World Cup] was highly skilled as well.Hopefully they can share those experiences, because that’s the great thing about the IPL. If you think back to the first tournament in 2008, the merging of all those different nations and the ideas that were shared, helped to accelerate the game. So I hope that the young players tap into that experience and talk about those World Cup moments, and learn from them and take away some significant information that will help them forge their careers as well.

Depleted Sri Lanka attack made to toil after circumstances conspire against them

Firdose Moonda27-Dec-2020This was a long time coming from South Africa’s openers. Three years, actually. That’s the last time a South African top two put on a 100-plus stand, 22 Test matches and 43 innings ago. Since then, South Africa’s starts have been more shaky than stable, with the result that inconsistency has riddled the entire line-up.Specifically, this was a long time coming for Aiden Markram. Almost two years. That’s the last time he crossed 50 in a Test match, against this same opposition eight innings and 22 months ago. Since then, he has struggled against spin in India and sat out with injury last summer, with the result that he saw this series as crucial to securing his long-term spot in the side.It’s early days, but the way that he batted today would have gone some way to doing that. Markram’s silky 68 should have become his fifth Test century and his trudge back to the change-room after he threw it away showed that he knew it. It’s not just that Markram has been in sparkling form or that his last four innings at this ground have brought three centuries and a 75, it’s that both conditions and circumstances were right for him to cash in.SuperSport Park is a quintessential Test wicket, in that it starts by offering something for the quicks, then flattens out for the batsmen and then breaks up to allow the spinners in on the final couple of days. Its best batting conditions are days two and three and South Africa will enjoy the bulk of that time at the crease, against a Sri Lankan side that are three men down from the attack they would have wanted to present. There can’t be many better situations in which to take advantage. Or many worse in which to rue your bad fortune, especially when the match, even first thing this morning, had been going Sri Lanka’s way.Related

• Elgar, Markram du Plessis put South Africa in control

• Is Markram ready to repay South Africa's faith?

• Chandimal credits Amla after banishing SA demons

• Sri Lanka's rush for runs gives South Africa another home headache

• De Silva suffers torn thigh, will play no further part in SA Tests

In the first hour, Sri Lanka completed their highest total in South Africa and might have expected to be fielding an attack to defend it, but Suranga Lakmal was ruled out of this match with a hamstring niggle, Dhananjaya de Silva will play no further part in the series after tearing a quadricep muscle on day one and Kasun Rajitha, who shared the new ball, left the field in the sixth over with what appeared to be a groin injury. That leaves Sri Lanka with two frontline quicks, a medium-pacer who would need to bowl more than originally planned in Shanaka, and one spinner, on debut. The expression on Mickey Arthur’s face when he walked out of the change-room and into an emptier area of the ground to stew in his team’s fortunes said it all.In the circumstances, it’s hard to be too critical of their bowling efforts. Even so, though they learnt from South Africa’s mistake of bowling too short, they made the opposite error and overpitched early on, and Markram didn’t need more of an invitation to unfurl the drive. With the confidence of his domestic form, his timing and placement were perfect. Markram also provides a foil for Elgar, who needs some time to settle in but, when he does, tends to stick around. That’s what Markram will want to do next time. His mistake today was going for one big shot too many, and it’s a mistake that can be rectified.As for Elgar, it’s still a long time coming. A year and a quarter. That’s the last time he scored a hundred, and the last match in which any South African did, in a losing cause in India.Elgar’s dismissal may sting more than Markram’s because he worked harder and longer and got closer to a hundred. He was also fed too many balls on the pads, especially for a player who is so strong off his legs. Almost three-quarters of his runs (71 of 95) came on the on side and a less frazzled Sri Lanka may have been able to plan better to prevent that.Aiden Markram continued his superb form from domestic cricket•Gallo Images/Getty ImagesLike South Africa, they are dealing with some inexperience. Lahiru Kumara is their senior seamer in this Test, with 20 caps, while Shanaka and Vishwa Fernando have played a combined 11 Tests. Their biggest concern is that Hasaranga is on debut and de Silva’s injury means there’s no back-up for him. And like Lutho Sipamla, Hasaranga gave away too many freebies. Sipamla came back from that with more control in his later spells on the first day and mopped up the tail towards the end of the first hour on the second. Hasaranga too, had moments of redemption.After what may have felt like a long time but was really just a few hours, he produced a beauty of a ball, a topspinner with extra bounce, that took Quinton de Kock’s edge and cemented what proved to be a significant mini-collapse. Sri Lanka claimed 3 for 20 midway through the final session to leave South Africa jittery, especially because it has been the longest time for Temba Bavuma. Almost five years. That’s the last, and only, time he scored a Test century. Since then, he has been dropped, recalled and at the centre of transformation wars and the captaincy conversation. There is a lot of pressure and expectation on him to put numbers on the board, and so far, he is doing his bit.Bavuma saw out the third day with Faf du Plessis and showed good energy in keeping the run-rate above four an over, an important point because Bavuma has previously been criticised for batting too slowly. His own strike rate hovers above 50, which may become less important if he improves his conversion rate, and even less important if he takes South Africa within touching distance of Sri Lanka’s score. Getting anywhere near 400 has also been a long time coming.South Africa had not topped 300 once, in any format, since Mark Boucher’s coaching tenure began in 2019. Before this match, the most they’d managed was 291 in an ODI against Australia, and in a Test match, 284, a year ago almost to the day in their most recent victory against England on this very ground. Perhaps we can say winning has been a long time coming for South Africa too, but there’s three more days and much more cricket to play before we can have that conversation.

Life has taken a turn for the better, but the fast bowler has his sight set on greater success

Shashank Kishore22-Nov-2020″It’s like a joke in Punjab. They don’t ask you what you want to do after Class XII. They just ask, ‘When are you going to Canada to settle?’ We all go there to make a life, get a job, earn money. I was also about to go. And then my life changed.”Arshdeep Singh, the Punjab left-arm fast bowler, remembers having this hard conversation with his father in 2017. He had struggled to get opportunities in age-group cricket. Unsure if there was a future in the game, his father wanted Arshdeep to follow the footsteps of his older sibling, who had migrated to Brampton in Canada, first for academics and then to “settle”.Arshdeep mustered the courage to request his father for one year to make a life in cricket. And that year turned out to be memorable. It started with him finding a way into Punjab’s Under-19 squad on the back of some solid performances in district cricket. The crowning glory came in New Zealand, when he was part of India’s Under-19 World Cup-winning squad of 2018.”If I ever go to Brampton now, it’ll be for a holiday, not for anything else,” Arshdeep laughed.The last four months have been a “dream”, he said, fresh off a second IPL stint with Kings XI Punjab. Much like the dream of 2018. When he was part of a dressing room under Rahul Dravid, and “enjoyed the time of my life”.At the nets, Arshdeep received constant words of encouragement from Anil Kumble, the Kings XI head coach. He enjoyed time conversing with “Universe Boss” Chris Gayle, and got bowling tips from Mohammed Shami. On the field, he nailed yorkers in the final over to win a game, dismissing Rohit Sharma, Andre Russell and Manish Pandey with his variations among others.Overall, he played in eight out of the 14 league games for Kings XI, picking up nine wickets and conceding at 8.77 an over. His impact went beyond just the numbers though. A calm approach in the death overs, immaculate control in the middle overs, and the willingness to experiment with changes in pace all came in for special praise from several quarters.A rookie who hadn’t played much cricket – Arshdeep played only three first-class matches for Punjab last season – left a mark in a bowling line-up that had the likes of Shami, Chris Jordan and Sheldon Cottrell. His rise could also be gauged by how much more game-time he got – up from just three games in IPL 2019, under a different team management.So what changed?”Last year, they didn’t have a chance to look at me much,” Arshdeep said, when asked to compare his two IPL seasons. “I hadn’t played a lot of domestic cricket either. But I got some confidence when I did well for India Under-23 in the series against Bangladesh U-23 in Lucknow last year.

“If I don’t have that confidence in myself, then I’m not giving out good vibes for the team. So for me, however big the batsman was, my focus was on just getting my execution right.”ARSHDEEP SINGH

“That is when I got noticed, I guess. But this year, the month-long camp before the IPL really helped, because the coaching staff had enough time to look and assess every single player in the squad. I picked a lot of wickets in the practice games, so I guess it all started from there. Anil Kumble had told me before the season itself that I could get chances early and asked me to be ready. I carried the confidence of having bowled well in the nets and practice matches.”Arshdeep spent four months in lockdown training with his father, a former cricketer and a retired officer of the Central Industry Security Force (CISF), at their small home gym. Once restrictions were eased in Chandigarh, Arshdeep was a part of a training camp that Yuvraj Singh put together for the young Punjab players. At the time, it wasn’t yet confirmed if IPL 2020 would happen.Once at the IPL, he struck a very cordial rapport with Shami and Jordan. He used the time to talk to them about bowling. “Shami is a world-class bowler, and has a lot of experience that he is willing to pass on to the youngsters,” Arshdeep said. “Things like ‘How do you think when you’re under the pump?’ He told me my skill sets are good. He stressed on the need to back yourself under pressure and be mentally strong. He wanted me to work on my seam position, which he felt I could improve.”I still remember, in the game against Mumbai Indians, I was bowling the last over and Kieron Pollard hit me for two sixes. After that, he chatted with me and asked me to just back my execution and bowl my best ball, without looking at who the batsman was. He said, even if it went for sixes, it shouldn’t matter.”So did that help him change his mindset? “Yes. When I am bowling to a big player, I try to remain calm, remain blank. I don’t think of too many things. At the meeting, plans are discussed for different batsmen, so I try to follow that. It also depends on how the wicket is behaving. It’s a one-on-one battle, a coach or captain can’t do much, so I have to give them the confidence that I can do it.”If I don’t have that confidence in myself, then I’m not giving out good vibes for the team. So for me, however big the batsman was, my focus was on just getting my execution right. And if it didn’t come off, I wanted to ensure the next time I am in that position, I don’t repeat the same mistakes. You can’t be harsh on yourself, but you have to quickly learn.”Arshdeep bowls at 130 clicks, has the ability to swing the ball. Irfan Pathan’s hat-trick against Pakistan in 2006 is among his early memories of watching the game on TV. Pathan immediately became his idol. To hear his idol speak good words about his skillsets means a lot to Arshdeep. These days, he watches a lot of Mitchell Starc, even though his persona is very different to Starc’s.Arshdeep Singh celebrates after a key strike•BCCI”I’m working with my coach Jaswant Rai, looking to increase my pace,” he said. “I’m working on developing my arm speed and getting better rhythm in my run-up to help my consistency. I took a week off after the IPL, but since then, I’ve returned to training, trying to work up pace off a shorter run-up than what I’ve been used to. That is something Shami too said I could do if I made a few tweaks. So yes, generating faster arm-speed is something I am consciously working on.”Arshdeep is aware of where his game is at and knows what his priorities are. One of them is to “not lose sight” of the end goal, and “not get carried away by the IPL adulation” as a lot of his seniors and family have advised. On the field, he wants to make “history for Punjab” and knows it is well within his grasp if he can continue to take the kind of strides he has in recent times.”I want to be successful in red-ball cricket, and take Punjab to the Ranji Trophy knockouts first,” he says. “I don’t know when we last even won, so I want to be part of history. Take them to the knockouts and once there, maybe even a Ranji title. In white-ball cricket, I want to be consistent and be a dependable bowler.”Arshdeep isn’t much of a cricket watcher. He’d rather be out there playing. “I’ve only ever watched one game at the stadium,” he laughed. “It was a Champions League T20 game between Auckland Aces and Kings XI Punjab six years or so ago.”I used to watch a lot of hockey, though,” he said. “In Punjab, hockey is big and my dad used to take us to watch hockey games. I remember when we were four of us on a scooter. Me standing in front, dad riding, my sister and mum at the back. That time, my dad kept saying, ‘When you become big and do well in life, get a big car and we can all go and watch sport comfortably, I still remember.'”Arshdeep has now fulfilled that dream. He owns an SUV, a Toyota Fortuner. Drives to the stadium have gotten more comfortable, and now it’s the drive to succeed in all formats and, perhaps one day, play for the country that pushes him. And he now has all of this with his family’s support. Canada has well and truly been put on the back burner.

Archer, Wood, Stone, Stokes and Co make for a formidable line-up, but Joe Root doesn’t quite have the leadership skills to match

Ian Chappell06-Jun-2021England face a couple of tough Test challenges this home summer. First up is a tilt against New Zealand, the No. 2-ranked side, followed by five matches against the top team, India.Though these two opponents present an enormous challenge, it is the Ashes series in Australia later in the year that is generating much discussion in the England camp.There’s no doubt England are a good side – they are currently ranked No. 3 – but do they have the right combination to win in Australia?In preparing a blueprint for success on bouncier Australian pitches, England only have to look at India’s last two successful tours to find a common denominator: penetrative pace bowling.If they require further confirmation of how best to achieve success, perusing their own team’s past history should suffice. There are three England series in Australia that stand out; the Bodyline tour of 1932-33, and the wins in 1954-55 and 1970-71. Those three tours all featured great England fast bowling and some imaginative captaincy.In 1932-33, England’s enforcer was the “Notts Express”, Harold Larwood, who took 33 wickets at 19.51, and ably assisted by Bill Voce and Gubby Allen, curtailed Don Bradman’s rampant run-scoring. Douglas Jardine’s tactics in employing a packed on-side field created controversy but he was a shrewd and ruthless captain. He acknowledged the need for good fast bowling and the necessity to curb Bradman’s effectiveness. The series result was a validation of his tactics, even if their application did nearly split the empire apart.In 1954-55, Frank “Typhoon” Tyson was the enforcer and he was the difference in the series. Tyson took 28 wickets at 20.82 and had capable allies in Brian Statham and Trevor Bailey. England were successfully led by the obdurate Yorkshireman Len Hutton, who slowed the over rate down in order to play on the patience of the Australian batsmen and give Tyson a breather before unleashing another onslaught.In 1970-71, John Snow made the difference with 31 wickets at 22.83. His back-up in the fast-bowling department were Peter Lever and Bob Willis. Canny Yorkshireman Ray Illingworth also shrewdly employed the economical spin bowling of “Deadly” Derek Underwood as well as himself to control proceedings until Snow was ready for another accurate spell of pace bowling.There’s a pattern to those successful campaigns that should give England cause for optimism; good fast bowling and two Yorkshire captains.In Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Ollie Stone, England possess a strong pace trio if they are fit. Jimmy Anderson will be invaluable in the day-night Test and will provide testing spells on other occasions. Stuart Broad is insurance in case of injury or fatigue. Add the dual skills of allrounder Ben Stokes and it means England have selection flexibility. They will carry a large squad to cope with bubble requirements, so other pace options will be available. India’s last tour of Australia showed the immense value of having ample and capable back-up pace bowling.England possess a potential series-winning group of fast bowlers. It is the top-order batting and Joe Root’s captaincy that should be cause for concern.The opening combination of Dominic Sibley and Rory Burns is both ungainly and unconvincing. Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood should rejoice if both names appear in the top slots on the team sheet at the Gabba. Given the skill of Australia’s pace trio, poor starts could be a death sentence for England.Root’s captaincy often lacks imagination and reason. His tendency to have long discussions with senior players is reminiscent of Alastair Cook at his worst. There’s a difference between a captain who consults and one who is uncertain; dithering is a bad look for a captain. There are times in Australia when a captain has to be imaginative in order to force the issue and this is not one of Root’s strengths.England definitely have the pace options to repeat the successes of 1932-33, 1954-55 and 1970-71. However, they won’t win if the fast bowlers aren’t complemented by strong leadership and sufficient runs.

With the current lot of IPL games being played in these two cities, the ability to deal with the conditions there is to the fore

Aakash Chopra20-Apr-2021Strokemaking is one of the top attractions of T20 cricket and so curators usually look to prepare pitches that are a little skewed in favour of the batters. While some argue that there should always be a fair contest between bat and ball, the dynamics of a T20 game demand that bowlers need to look elsewhere than the pitch for allies.Scoreboard pressure is as real as the ball swinging in the air or turning off the surface, and must be used to your advantage. Of course, nobody wants a featherbed for a surface at a really small ground. A lot of people tell you that the watching public, at home or in the stadium, loves only big hits but the fact is that too much of anything isn’t good. In a bat versus bat contest, cricket often loses.This IPL has already produced some very interesting surfaces and the trend is likely to continue. With only six venues hosting the entire tournament and only two being used during any given block of about two weeks, the chances of pitches adding a new element to the contests are high. When there are back-to-back matches over two consecutive days at the same venue, the curator might try his best to have two similar pitches ready but it’s a lot easier said than done because he doesn’t really have the option to use the pitches that are off to one side or the other. And the ones close to the central playing surface attract heavy traffic and so are bound to have a lot of wear and tear.How do you counter challenging surfaces in a T20 game? Obviously the challenge is different on different surfaces. The pitch in Chennai has been slowing down radically as games progress, and that makes it toughest to bat during the last five overs there. On the contrary, the green and moist pitch at the Wankhede Stadium is toughest to bat on in the first six overs, while the ball is new.Since the challenges are different, they need to be countered differently too. In Chennai, you need to start the innings assuming that run-scoring is going to get tougher with every passing over, and that makes it important to play high-risk cricket up front.You must attack from the get-go, and while you should still choose the areas you want to target, there’s merit in stretching the envelope a little in the first six overs. After that, the focus must switch to rotating the strike as much possible, and perhaps, waiting for short-pitched deliveries for boundary shots. Once the ball gets old in Chennai, it’s very difficult to hit boundaries off the front foot without taking a significant amount of risk. Of course that risk must be taken once in a while but if you have gotten off to a flier and have managed to rotate the strike in the middle overs, you won’t be forced to manufacture these shots all the time.On a seaming Wankhede deck, batters must allow the ball to come to them•BCCI/IPLChepauk is a reasonably big ground and it may not be a bad idea to chip the ball over the fielders inside the circle to create opportunities for twos – that’s something we haven’t seen very often thus far in the tournament.It must be acknowledged that all of this is much easier said than done, for a game of cricket will invariably find a narrative of its own.As for the first six overs at the Wankhede Stadium, on a night when the ball is seaming around, you ought to dip into your Test batting repertoire and momentarily forget that it’s a T20 game and that Mumbai is a high-scoring ground. Our game demands that one must always respect the conditions, and if you don’t just because it’s a different format, you’re likely to fail.The swinging-seaming ball must be encountered with caution and care. Don’t play big, booming drives on the up. Instead, allow the ball to come to you.T20 cricket has changed the mindsets of a lot of bowlers and many feel obliged to try a couple of variations in any given over. Often it’s the change of pace on a surface good for batting, but even on a bowler-friendly surface, they tend to change the line and length a couple of times in an over, and that’s the opportunity you must wait for and seize.If there are no easy opportunities to score, you must bide your time and back yourself to make up for the lost time in the overs to follow. The toughest thing for a goalkeeper while saving a penalty shot is to stand still and hold his ground instead of anticipating and diving to one side, but there’s enough evidence to suggest that his best chance of pulling off a save is to not move till the ball has been kicked. A batter letting a couple of deliveries go to the wicketkeeper in a T20 game is akin to standing still for a goalkeeper, but on a seamer-friendly pitch that might be the best thing you as a batter could do to help yourself and the team.Once again, like it was the case for the strategy to succeed in Chennai, this too is easier said than done here.