Full and wide is the new way to success

India’s long-standing ‘slog-overs’ bowler Ashish Nehra says the yorker outside the off-stump is an effective weapon against pinch-hitters. “This ball should be bowled with a packed off side field. But there are couple of things to keep in mind. One needs to be very accurate and also know the strength of the batsman. If it is bowled little wider it gets declared as a wide. Besides you shouldn’t try this innovation against someone like Sehwag or a Sachin as they are so strong square of the wicket on the off-side,” he says.

Nehra adds that despite the various innovations that the game has seen,the yorkers still remain the best option to restrict the batsmen. “But since the batsman expects the yorker to be pitch on the stumps,this innovation mostly effective.”

There are a couple of other advantages that the bowlers’ point out while endorsing the use of the new ‘yorker’ in T20 cricket. Unlike the on-side,there are no restrictions of the number of fielders on the off-side. Secondly,hitting the ball over off-side is more difficult and requires correct technique unlike the hits on the on-side that the late-orders sloggers concentrate on.

Nehra’s one-time mate in the national team Laxmipathy Balaji too believes that bowlers are under pressure to think out of the box. “There are many variations that bowlers have come up with these days and it is all about identifying which one to use when,” he says.

Balaji says that ‘outside the off stump’ variation can be tried against batsmen who move around the crease to play the ball towards fine leg. Besides,it is impossible to play the behind-stumps-scoop made popular by Tillakratne Dilshan and Brendon McCullum to the full ball pitched wide.

England pace bowler Stuart Broad came up with a variation of this ball during the 2009 T20 World Cup by going round the wicket to the right-handed batsmen. With the off-side packed with fielders,it was difficult to score off the ball that traveled diagonally across the pitch. In days to come IPL will see the real test for this bowling variation.