Sticking to process, mantra for semis

The good thing is that we have done it before, in the semifinals last year. It is a do-or-die game but as the bowling coach, I will be telling our players to go out and play the game as they have so far, writes Venkatesh Prasad.

The more you play cricket, the more you realise that it is a game of glorious uncertainties. In our penultimate league game against the Knight Riders, we failed to defend a total just short of 190. But in our final league game against the Kings XI on Wednesday, we easily defended 116.

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The good thing is that we have done it before, in the semifinals last year. It is a do-or-die game but as the bowling coach, I will be telling our players to go out and play the game as they have so far. The trick would be to do things that have worked so far. The mantra will be sticking to process, irrespective of the outcome. It wasn’t extraordinary bowling that got us home against the Kings XI. Sticking to the basics, especially on the part of the spinners, helped.

It was good to see Thilan Thushara and R. Ashwin, playing his first match, come good. It gives us more options in the semifinal against Bangalore on Saturday.

We also expect Matthew Hayden and Albie Morkel to be available. With Michael Hussey joining us, we have more choice. It will be a nice challenge to match wits against Anil Kumble who’s having a good time in the tournament. May the best team win.
Hawkeye Communications