The art of taking power plays

In the second ODI between India and South Africa at Wanderers, South Africa required 46 runs from 19 overs at a rate of 2.42 with 7 wickets still intact,when they opted for batting powerplay. 5 overs later they had lost 3 more wickets, while scoring runs at a rate of 4 per over and the match was back in balance. India went on to win the nail-biter by 1 run.

Whether South Africa would have won the match if they did not opt for the powerplay is a hypothetical question which is anybody's guess; but the fact of the matter is that opting for the batting powerplay is a decision which most of the teams find tricky, especially during a run chase. There are so many variables attached to the decision that it becomes clear only in hindsight whether the decision to opt for the powerplay was a correct one or not. Consider the ODI between India and SA; if Smith and Miller had managed to score some runs by hitting over the infield, losing at most one wicket, taking the powerplay would have been hailed as a master stroke, with the argument that it allowed the batsmen to break free from the pressure created by the bowlers. Alas, that was not the case and South Africa lost their way during the powerplay.


Why Batting Powerplays don't work

Most of the time when a batting team opts for the powerplay, it is as if they are obliged to score runs quickly and quite surprisingly, they try to do so by slogging. Even batsmen with good techniques go for the horizontal bat shots and play across the line. Some times they do succeed, but most of the times they falter.

Another reason why powerplays don't work is the unreasonably high expectation teams have from them. Consider a scenario where a team is, say, 220-1 after 35 overs with two well-settled batsmen. The team aims for a minimum of 50-60 runs from the powerplay as the batsmen are well settled. On most occasions , the over-ambitious batsmen lose their wicket.

Sometimes the powerplay breaks the batting team's momentum. The batsmen would be scoring largely in singles and twos till the start of the powerplay and suddenly they find that the gaps in the field are plugged. One or two quite overs and the momentum shifts to the bowling side. This is not the case with the first powerplay, which coincides with the start of the innings or with the bowling powerplay, which most teams take right after the first one ( on a side note, its a surprise that there haven't been any innovative use of the bowling powerplay).

There are exceptions, though

However, sometimes the batting power play does work out for good. I remember the last ODI series between Australia and South Africa, where South Africa chased big totals in couple of tight games with the help of batting powerplay. Albie Morkel utilized them to perfection and scored some heavy runs during the powerplay which eventually won South Africa the matches. But again, such instances are quite rare.


Since there are so many pitfalls in taking a batting powerplay out of turn, most teams take it after the 40th over when batting first, preferably from 44th to 49th over. There is very little chance for things to go wrong at that stage of the innings. The decision is trickier when the team is chasing. No team or captain has mastered the art of taking the batting powerplay at the right time during a stiff chase. The ability of the captains to utilize the powerplays to their advantage ( or at least prevent it from being a spoiler) might just be the deciding factor in the world cup.