Test cricket should not curb a player's natural game

6 6 4 6 6. This was Adam Gilchrist going on a rampage against Monty Panesar. Gilchrist is one of the foremost names that comes to mind when you think of a batsman always playing his natural game. When you are meant to attack, you attack, when your natural game is to defend, you defend. In all the years that have gone by, we have seen far too many times, that when a batsman does not play his natural game, he inevitably fails. Virender Sehwag would never have been the great batsman he was had he played defensively. His mindset was to always score boundaries, and that’s what he did. The opposition knew that if they couldn’t get him out in the first 10 overs, he could take the game away from you.

The ongoing series between India and England is yet another reminder to the batsman to play the way they know best. Cheteshwar Pujara is known to be a rock-solid player. He is one, who likes to stay at the crease for long and accumulate runs. He was criticized for his approach. In the 3rd Test, in the last over before lunch, he played a pull shot to a short ball and was caught out at deep square leg. That was very uncharacteristic of Pujara. He tried to change his natural game and failed. In the 4th Test, he played true to his nature and only in the end when he was running out of partners, he changed his style. He scored 132 runs in that innings.

Rishabh Pant’s dismissal in the 4th Test, provided yet another example of why a batsman should play his natural game. Pant who is known to play aggressively, scored his first Test runs with a huge six straight down the ground. The same player tried to alter his game by playing defensively. He ended up playing 29 balls and got out without scoring a single run!

Both Ben Stokes and Hardik Pandya need to learn from this very quickly. Pandya played a fantastic innings of 93 in the first match against South Africa. He counterattacked when India was almost down and out and single-handedly brought India back into the game. In England though, he has not even been a shadow of his former self. He has come into the crease every time with the intent to survive and not score. There is no doubt that in English conditions, one has to exercise caution, but as a naturally aggressive batsman, you have to maintain a fine balance of playing defensively and taking the attack to the bowlers. Ben Stokes, on the other hand, this series, has not looked settled at all and from his strike rate, it would seem he has found it a real struggle. Stokes is the same man who scored the fastest double century for England in trying conditions at Cape Town.

When you look at why some of the great batsmen have succeeded in Test match cricket, it is because irrespective of the situation, they have come in and played only one way. Gilchrist, McCullum, and Sehwag, amongst many others, have been some of the game’s most explosive batsman and they lived up to that reputation in the majority of the innings that they played. They had kept their game-plan very simple and played their natural game.