Eric Simons, IPL 2020

Brown paper bags and artificial crowd noises

Analysing the IPL can be a series of glorious contradictions. The T20 game appears to be so unpredictable yet when carefully watched and analysed there are always patterns and nuances that one picks up and need to be recognised. Then, without trying to be too clever, used to stay one step ahead of the opposition. 

I listened to a podcast by Eddie Jones recently in which he talks about his time at the Reds and admits he had probably lost confidence after a rough time as Australian coach and decided the safe option was to follow trends rather that set trends. He berates himself with colourful language and in an honest manner about that phase of his career. 

It’s always the challenge in professional sport to do today what others will be doing tomorrow. 

Any clash in the IPL is a big one but CSK vs Mumbai Indians has become one of the biggest so it was great to beat the defending champions (beating us by one run – we haven’t forgotten!) in the opening game of the tournament on Saturday. It was a performance which personified the CSK approach – calm, experienced and never prone to panic. Twice we were under the pump. When we were bowling it initially looked like Mumbai were set for a really big total but we pulled it back very well with Piyush Chawla doing an excellent job. Then at 6-2 early in our chase, once again the balance of power lay firmly with Mumbai. 

Ambati Rayudu was outstanding in his knock. There always comes a moment in a match where there is a key match up and Jasprit Bumrah is crucial to Rohit Sharma’s plans. He comes on quite late to either seal an advantage or repair damage if the innings hasn’t started well. I would not go so far as to say it was a ‘demolition job’, but you could feel the wind come right out of the Mumbai sails with the way Ambati handled the threat Jasprit posed. As well as Ambati batted, Faf du Plessis played a brilliant if ‘unpopular’ innings which will always fall under the fans’ radar but is recognised by the dugout. It was an excellent example of two experienced batsmen controlling a run chase.

True to form in IPL and T20 cricket, it was followed by a disappointing defeat in which we conceded 216 runs to the Rajasthan Royals. So, do we analyse it, or do we put it down to a ‘bad day at the office’? Both is the answer but the important thing is consistency. Follow the same process, win or lose, so that you learn from both situations. 

It is important not to fall into the trap of believing that you did everything perfectly when you win and everything terribly when you lose. Unfortunately, in sport, the opposition also has very talented cricketers and they also have a say in the outcome.  Yes, as a cricket team we are ultimately judged on the result, but what I try to get the bowlers to focus on is the execution of a plan rather than just the outcome. 

Each delivery in a T20 match is seen as an event that needs to be won. You cannot win them all but you probably need to win around 70% to win the match. Each event has an outcome and if we execute our plans well and the outcome is not what we want, then maybe we need to revisit our tactics. But we start with the execution. So we grow and evolve as a bowling unit. 

Once again Faf played an excellent innings, with MS doing what he does best to ensure that we got close to the Royals total so that, even in defeat, our net run rate did not take a hammering. It could still play a big role in who ultimately qualifies for the knock out stages. 

As much as we are becoming accustomed to the Covid-19 restrictions and protocols, and trying not to talk about them all the time, they remain an everyday part of our lives. One of the protocols is that when a ball is hit for six, the players are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands until the umpire has sanitised it. There were 36 sixes in the Rajasthan match on a good pitch with the small Sharjah boundaries so the umpires had an especially busy evening! 

It was amusing on a few occasions watching the Royals players kicking the ball to each other and then to the umpire after it had been returned to the field of play. They all looked slightly uncomfortable with what would have been disrespectful behaviour in pre-Covid times.    

Food, as always in this part of the world, and especially when supplied from such wonderful hotels as ours, remains superb and also a very important part of recovery and conditioning during a tournament. In previous IPLs we train at the venue of the match and the food at the ground would be prepared by the hotel caterers in the stadium’s dining area. 

Here we use the ICC training and net facilities but use no part of the buildings to protect our bio-secure bubble. So our hotel provides us with ‘lunch boxes’, a throw-back to school days but on an entirely different level to a packet of Simba chips and an apple. Mine is labelled every day: “Eric – non veg” although I do trade out for a Veg every so often as they are delicious. It is slightly amusing to watch these world class cricketers digging into a brown paper bag after training for their sustenance. 

There has been a lot of discussion around the ‘manufactured’ crowd noise during the games so far. You would hear it on television and it is also being played through the stadium sound system. The majority of players prefer to have noise – however ‘manufactured’ and artificial it sounds. Amazingly, this does somehow create some sense of normality. I certainly prefer it although sometimes it does not quite match up to the spontaneous noise of the crowd based on a particular play that has unfolded. I hear the sound of a cheer far too late, or cheering when I know there would normally be silence. It is taking some getting used to, but that strangeness is far better than the echoes of an empty stadium. 

Just when you think you’re getting used to the new normal, there’s something just around the corner to remind you that there’s still a long way to go.