AHMEDABAD, Mar 28: Gujarat Titans’ assistant coach Parthiv Patel on Friday said the lack of “fear factor” in batters has resulted in raising the Power Play score “benchmark” in the Indian Premier League.
Recalling that 45 was the ideal Power Play score for IPL teams during his playing days, the former India wicketkeeper-batter Patel said sidearm throw specialists have also helped the batters adjust to the pace.
“There is no doubt about that. That planning has gone (high). I mean, in the first year when I started opening, our thinking was (to score) 45 runs; if we get 45 for one, it will be a good power play (score),” Patel told the media here ahead of GT’s clash against Mumbai Indians on Saturday.
“Then it went on to become 50, (then) 55, (then) 60. Having said that, we still have to look at the conditions. If you’re playing in Chennai, 150 was good enough. That’s why you don’t expect a team to score 70, 80 (in Power Plays),” he added.
He said the desired mark in Power Plays has now been moved up.
“But when you’re looking at all the games, generally you tend to think that 70 is the benchmark. What kind of conditions we are playing in, that matters the most, but that benchmark has definitely gone higher than 45 for sure,” he said.
Patel said training against side-arm throw specialists has also helped the batters.
“The fear factor is not there.The batters are definitely playing with less fear and that’s where they are very clear and they have been practicing those.
“There are certain specialists for the job and that’s what is happening with all the teams. Everyone is capable enough to hit those boundaries,” he said.
Patel said such programmes have helped Indian domestic cricketers to play more bravely.
“Every team has that kind of player. Batters would minimum get you 60 runs. (The) batsmen’s practice is going up like… Sidearm has definitely helped Indian domestic players because usually you don’t see bowlers bowling more than 140 kilometres an hour.
“That’s what is happening with the sidearm specialist. You see a lot of our young Indian batters who are hooking and pulling really well. They are playing really well off the back-foot. I think that’s where sidearm has played a big role in doing that,” he added.
Patel said Gujarat Titans did not lack in planning in their opening match against Punjab Kings but praised Shreyas Iyer and Shashank Singh for their execution.
Iyer’s 97 not out and Shashank’s quick-fire unbeaten 44 powered PBKS to 243/5 and despite their strong fightback, Gujarat Titans fell short by 11 runs.
“The result didn’t go our way, but if you look at chasing 244, we were just an over away from winning a game,” Patel said.
“There were quite a few positives from the game which we played. I don’t think there was any lack of planning. There wasn’t the lack of plan A or plan B or plan C. We’ve spent enough time preparing against every batter.”
“You’ve got to give credit (to) someone like Shashank, who did really well last year, who knows how to finish those games. With Shreyas Iyer, we’ve seen how well he has batted in the last year or so.” (PTI)
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