Total Batting: Indian cricket team’s tactical masterstroke at T20 World Cup

Total Football. As the term suggests, it’s a philosophy that requires all outfield players to be versatile in more than one position. Except the goalkeeper, no one else has a fixed position, which means an attacker can fall back in sturdy defence or a defender can weave his way through the field; in each instance, someone else takes his place, which translates to players being available in all positions at all times of the game, even if the same players don’t occupy the same positions.

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Manager Rinus Michels is largely credited with introducing the concept in the 1970s, with Ajax Amsterdam in the Dutch league and with the Netherlands national team. A similar style of play was espoused as early as the 1930s by the Austrian national team and by the magical Magyars of Hungary in the 1950s, both influenced by Jimmy Hogan, who played in Fulham’s march to the semi-final of the FA Cup in 1907 and later coached numerous club and international sides, among them Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland.

Rahul Dravid doesn’t claim to be either Hogan or Michels, nor does he position himself as the pioneer of ‘Total Cricket’, if you like. Especially in the 20-over format, a flexible batting order based on conditions and matchups has been in vogue from the time data analytics swept through the cricketing firmament, but at this T20 World Cup, for the first time, India have made public their desire to embrace Total Cricket in its entirety.

Earlier in the tournament, Rohit Sharma announced that beyond himself and Virat Kohli as openers – ‘Unless it is a shortened game or a Super Over’ – the batting order would change depending on what the leadership group perceives as the need of the hour. In India’s three outings so far, Rishabh Pant has occupied the No. 3 slot but at No. 4, Axar Patel walked out ahead of Suryakumar Yadav, the world’s No. 1 T20I batter for nearly two years, against Pakistan.

It’s one thing to talk about a brand because that’s what the shifting landscape of T20 cricket demands, it’s quite another to have the courage and, more importantly, the personnel to do so. To the great credit of Rohit and Rahul, and the selection panel headed for the last year or so by Ajit Agarkar, India have taken the process of identifying and promoting resources capable of executing Total Cricket with felicity to a new level without receiving the attendant hype that, say, Bazball in Test cricket has.

The composition of India’s middle-order in the World Cup has remained unchanged – Pant, Suryakumar, Axar, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja. All of them are capable of doing a job anywhere between Nos. 3 and 8, and that’s not said lightly. They might not always succeed because more than any other format, T20 sets batters up for ‘failure’ more often than it does success, but that’s not because they are not equipped enough to either steady an innings or provide the pyrotechnics at the end even if they walk in with just a few deliveries left.

India are not the exception in this regard, but not many teams in the competition can boast the depth in versatility that Rohit has under his command. Having made his name at No. 3, Kohli is now opening the batting, and even though he has only made five runs in three outings, he is coming off 700-plus runs in his avatar as opener in IPL 2024 and is just a few strokes away from turning the corner. Pant was initially identified as a middle-overs destroyer, but he has taken his promotion to heart, finding admirable consistency even on the batting-unfriendly tracks in New York.

Axar was an excellent fit at No. 4 against Pakistan after India were rocked by the early wickets of Kohli and Rohit, cutting out his natural aggression to provide Pant the support he needed to steady the ship. Suryakumar showcased his versatility by striking an uncharacteristically measured fifty, in 49 balls, against US, while Pandya and Jadeja have displayed in the past the ability to bat at different positions and stages of the innings without any dip in intensity or returns. Dube was originally identified as a slayer of spin, but he has added new dimensions to his batting against pace, all of which paint a healthy, reassuring picture.

Total Cricket will not extend to the five-day game but in white-ball play, it is here to stay, Dravid acknowledges. “Each situation is unique. It’s hard to keep something set in stone, at least that’s my belief,” he says. “I always believe in being flexible in your thinking, being able to adapt to situations. It’s something we’ve always been conscious of, the concept of being able to have players who can be adaptable and float in that middle order if and when required. It’s something we’ve continuously striven to do as and when required and as and when possible but not just for the sake of it.

“A lot of times, you make these changes, keeping something specific in mind. It works sometimes, it doesn’t work sometimes. I think you can’t judge everything only on the results. You always have to go behind and see what the thinking behind some of these things is,” Dravid goes on, adding, “I don’t think the Test format will have too many flexibilities. One-day cricket, we are seeing that… But in the T20 format, every over or every 10 balls is quite critical and matters much more than it does in another format.”

Over the next week, India will turn to Total Cricket if they feel the need. But not, like Dravid said, just for the sake of it. It’s that clarity which has made, and kept, them the world’s best T20 side for a long time.