Celebrating the art of blocking

                                        

Can blocking the ball be an art? It can be.

Some of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket have had a reputation of leaving the opposition, and the spectators, frustrated with a dour approach. But what of contemporary cricket when the administrators are struggling to draw the paying public to the venues to support Test matches. Not that the existence of Tests is under immediate threat but there are disturbing signs that the format is losing its appeal with the younger generation.

Hashim Amla, by that yardstick, should be unpopular with cricket followers. On the contrary, his stock would rise in the eyes of the connoisseurs, the old fashioned cricket watcher, hooked to five days of an intense, or not so intense, battle of attrition between bat and ball.

There is room for the Amlas and the Temba Bavumas, testing the patience of those bred on the T20 brand, engaging the opposition with their dour brand of batting.

If the flair to hit can be natural, so can the skill to block. Amla, shedding his shots and only looking to block, at times even half-volleys, has been one of the finest grafters in modern cricket and A.B. de Villiers one of the cleanest hitters of the ball, creating gaps where none exist.

Interestingly, de Villiers owns the record for the fastest century in ODIs (31 balls) but the same batsman batted 220 balls to make 33 to save a Test against Australia in 2012.

Gautam Gambhir, a busy man at the crease, cherishes his draw-forcing knock at Napier in 2009. It was tough. For a batsman who loves to play shots, it was quite uncharacteristic to face 436 balls in 643 minutes. Yet, he played, because the team wanted him to. As did Yashpal Sharma in his heyday, acceding to the team’s decision to graft.

Said Gambhir, “Every ball played was a run for me. Actually I was not playing for the scoreboard. It was for the team. It is all mental. You can be hitting the ball anytime but defending is challenging, I have always believed that defending is not instinctive, strokemaking is.”

It must have been tougher for Gambhir because the man at the other end was a certain V.V.S. Laxman, who also compiled a century, but also hit 25 fours. “It is not easy to curtail your game but Gautam was exemplary. He was in a zone,” recalled Laxman.

The dour batsman has not gone out of fashion completely. It is the demand of Test cricket even in these times of aggressive cricket. The proof came on Sunday afternoon when Amla blocked and blocked. It was a fascinating contest with the bowler probing and the batsman shutting all angles. Both played the mind game well and it must have been hard for the batsman to curb his instincts.

Mohinder Amarnath, possessing a tight defence and also a wide range of shots, put the aggressive bowler in his place with the hook. “Good defence is a must. You can’t survive in the longer version without reading the situation. You occupy the crease only when you have the defence,” said Mohinder.

No place for grafters? It is argued that batting displays like South Africa’s will keep the spectators away from Test cricket. But what if the roles were reversed and India was saving the match? Every ball blocked would have been met with cheers from the galleries.

That, then, is the essence of Test cricket. The aggressors are welcome. But there is a place for the blocker too!