5 early lessons ahead of the 2019 World Cup

#5 Chasing is now preferred but not perfected

Ben Stokes led the English chase against Australia

The Champions Trophy re-emphasized a growing trend which we have been witnessing in cricket for the last few years now — most teams now fancy chasing even in big games. Win the toss and put the opposition into bat seems to be the order of the day now.

With the game having swung decisively in favour of batsmen, no total is now big enough and captains prefer to have a set target in their mind now. If it’s a day/night match and the possibility of dew, chasing is preferred without a question.

But the Champions Trophy showed that though chasing is now the preferred option, it is an art still to be perfected. There were some fantastic chases were big totals were overhauled — England chased down Bangladesh’s 305 in the opening match, Sri Lanka chased down 321 against India.

But there were four occasions when good teams faltered while chasing and capitulated under pressure. This obviously includes the final where India, despite having great chasers like Virat Kohli, succumbed to pressure and could not put up a fight thanks to a big total on the board.

Going forward, chasing will continue to be the most favoured option from now on. But teams must remember that it is a difficult art to master and the bowling team will always have a great chance as they have the runs on the board to play with.