The series is locked at 1-1 and, oddly enough, the weather has been South Africa’s best friend so far. India have lost both tosses, so they’ve batted when the ball jagged around and bowled when it felt like a bar of soap. It is hardly the most glamorous subplot, yet it could decide Saturday’s one-day international.
Ryan ten Doeschate, now India’s assistant coach, did his best to spell it out without sounding as though the camp were reaching for excuses.
“The dew factor is, we’re actually trying to put a number on it and it varies between 10 and 20% [in terms of] what a big difference it makes [to the result],” he said on Thursday evening. “I think we’re one in a million statistically at the moment [the probability of losing 20 straight tosses], so if we can go two million tomorrow, that’ll be pretty impressive.”
There was a smile attached to that line, but the underlying point is serious. Bowlers can’t grip the white Kookaburra once it’s slick, and out-fields turn into skid-pans. So India have tried every practical trick in training.
“We are doing all the practical prep stuff, guys bowling with wet balls,” ten Doeschate confirmed. “Again, you know, like setting up our store to get a premium score, figuring out how to defend, what is best to bowl with the wet ball when there is dew on the grass.”
The ICC’s recent tweak to the playing conditions – only one of the two new balls is used after the 34-over mark – has made things even stranger. The idea was to let the ball soften and bring bowlers back into it late on; with dew, it’s not that simple.
“The two balls,” he began, before expanding: “if I just think about it logically, the whole point of going to one ball after 34 overs is that the ball does get a chance to wear and to get a bit softer. But the flip side is that [when there is dew] you have got one ball that is getting more wet essentially. I think the umpires have been very good in allowing ball changes, but then of course you end up getting a slightly harder ball which negates the whole point of going down to the one ball.”
Players, he reckons, have handled the situation maturely. “But like I said, the thing that has impressed me about this group this week is that we know the challenges, I haven’t heard anyone complain and the main thing is all about, you know, it is our responsibility to find ways around these challenges and that is just another one we have got to find a solution for.”
Batsmen – or batters if you prefer the modern term – have taken it on themselves to raise par. A fortnight ago 300 was decent. Not any more.
“At the start of the first game, we thought 320 sort of par, and then we put a premium at 350 and we thought that the game in Raipur was the same. We thought 360, even given the dew coming, it was a good effort to get that score,” ten Doeschate said. “You always want more runs and again the conversations have been around how can we maximise. What we said about guys starting in slightly later on, what are the better options, we just had a good chat around that.”
He was halfway through another point when the press conference wrapped up, leaving his last remark dangling in mid-sentence: “I think it is, you know, the fact that the dew kind of falls as the second in…”
Even so, the gist was clear: India will keep running simulations, keep soaking cricket balls and keep hoping the coin comes up their way. If it doesn’t, their work in the nets must translate on the field. For a side that prides itself on controlling variables, dew remains the one element they can only tame, never conquer.
