Gerhard Erasmus pushes the envelope of spin bowling

In the gripping introductory scene from Bollywood sports drama Dangal, Aamir Khan who plays the role of Mahavir Singh Phogat gets into an argument with an office colleague after rueing India’s lack of medal-winning caliber in wrestling. Egos flare up, and they decide to have a duel in the middle of the workplace. It turns out to be a lopsided battle, with the guy running his mouth biting the dust thrice. He compliments the winner for his strength, to which Mahavir replies that you shouldn’t feel bad about losing because I am a former national level champion. When Hardik Pandya sliced an inch-perfect yorker from Ben Shikongo to the point boundary, he also patted the bowler on the back, telling him not to feel disheartened as there is simply a skill difference between the two.

Dangal is the only Indian film to gross over $300 million, and the co-hosts measured up to the expectations while facing an associate nation by defeating Namibia by 93 runs in Delhi, their greatest victory margin at T20 World Cups. However, unlike Mahavir’s vanquishment of his adversary, India couldn’t carry a superiority complex throughout the joust. Gerhard Erasmus tested the limits of the ICC rules and regulations to open a pandora box of tricks that led to incredible figures of 20/4 at a venue with small dimensions. He improvised with his release points – 2.1m for the stock delivery and 1.6m for the round-arm variation – and occasionally sent the ball down from 25 yards, much to the stupefaction of umpire Rod Tucker as the first try was dismissed as illegitimate. The consistent flat trajectory made both heaving across the line and finding elevation a challenge, augmenting his proven record versus left-handers.

As a finger-spinner Erasmus had the guts and gumption to bowl at the death. A seam-up slider was dispatched over mid-wicket by Hardik whose bat speed is faster than lightning, but call it poetic justice for his sorcery up until that point that a full toss dismissed the half-centurion. With Rinku Singh and Axar Patel perishing to low scooters, the end of his quota was as prolific as the beginning. Ishan Kishan ransacked 28 runs off Jonathan Smit including four consecutive sixes to hurl India to 86/1 in the PowerPlay, their best in the history of the tournament. This edition has been short on gargantuan totals but the narrative was primed for a welcome change. Enter Erasmus, firing in a darter that hustled Kishan on the pull. Just a run and a wicket off his opening salvo, and Namibia earned themselves a moment of pause on the leather hunt that kickstarted with Sanju Samson’s languid flow. ‘’I mean, after 6-7 overs, it felt like we might go past 240, 250 as well. But then it’s a game of cricket. Fantastic leveller,’’ Suryakumar Yadav highlighted.

By the time the Indian middle-order could come to terms with the diversity in the operation of Erasmus, he’d wrapped up an economical spell. Bernard Scholtz, the left-arm orthodox, was an ideal foil, generating 4.3 degrees of turn to have the Indian captain stumped on his home ground. Pitted against Shivam Dubey, he showed the tactical nous to serve in the driving zone as the basher settled in but once there were a few sighters under his belt, the length promptly shifted to the block hole. Had the wicketkeeper and cover fielder been a bit more agile, his returns would have worn a cleaner look. In the seven overs upfront, India peeled off 18 boundaries, however it is a testament to the diagonal slings from Namibia that only 1 came off the next five. Of the 20 spin-bowling attacks on show in the competition, Namibia tweakers have the second-lowest average release points, only marginally behind Nepal.

Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Erasmus revealed that his team has not been allocated a single night training session to get used to the floodlights. “We’ll just rock up and do it the Namibian way, which is to fight,” he declared, parking aside the grievance. “Stay in the moment. Play the ball as it comes and enjoy the occasion. If we’re overawed by the situation, the quality of the opposition, or the crowd, we probably won’t enjoy the night. But if we stay present and keep a clear mind, our chances of success naturally go up.” If Erasmus wasn’t shuffling his cards often to revel in the pressure-cooker environs, he managed to hit a couple of dips with non-striker Hardik on top after an amusing tumble. Spin produced 5/61 in 8 overs with 22 dots as compared to 2/147 in 12 overs of pace, keeping India to 209/9 as the slog phase worth 41/5 belonged to lynchpin Erasmus and the resurgent Smit.

‘’I think the ball was stopping a little bit, but I don’t want to take any credit away from all the Namibian bowlers. They bowled really well. I think they came out with fire. They had their plans, executed really well, but very impressed with their bowling as well,’’ Suryakumar applauded.

The slow conditions of Chennai await Namibia in this event where spinners have bowled 50.4% of the overs, the highest in a T20 World Cup edition. USA, their opponents, might have upset India if Shubham Ranjane had completed the return catch of Suryakumar on 15. They scored 158 in reply to Pakistan’s 190, so the task is cut out for Erasmus and his men, currently languishing at the bottom of the table. Speaking of which, furniture was relocated to the periphery of the room to unveil a makeshift akhaada that witnessed the fall of Mahavir’s challenger. His proclamations didn’t translate into performance and humble pie was eaten, but the same cannot be said about Namibia. They stopped a rampaging India in the tracks through innovation and rolled along nicely at 67/1 after seven overs in the chase. It wasn’t enough to upstage the world champions, but they weren’t, by any means, a pushover in the Dangal.