In the ODI series between India & Newzealand, India did use the powerplay well. Sachin & Yuvraj took the powerplay around the 25th over when both were set in the crease and with knowledge that lots of wickets are yet to come. They posted 360+ that match.

Nice piece of writing Micheal, I agree that captains should take the batting powerplay in the middle overs. As far as Pakistan's self destruction last night is concerned, what confused me is the impatience and at times, overconfidence of the Pakistani batsmen. I admit that the current Aussie side is not at its full strength but the Paki batsmen should not have kept this mindset that 'Oh yes we can hit em, no prob'. Now what is left to be seen is what strategy Younis uses. Misbah might have to go as his lack of form is harming Pakistan.
Also, is it just me or is Salman Butt always trying to hog the strike in the start of the innings whether his partner is Khurram, Ahmad Shahzad or Nasir?
Lastly, I would advise anger management classes for Shahid Afridi.

How about the India's approach to the powerplays, especially in the recent series against NZ? Often, they used their batting powerplay before the 25th over to bat NZ out of the game. On one occasion, when NZ postponed the bowling powerplay to reduce the scoring rate, Dhoni took the batting powerplay to maintain it. And it worked too! Quite unlike SA in the example by Michael Jeh as India have not depended on having wickets in hand to make full use of the batting powerplay. Have any other teams have used the powerplay to fit match situations?

Well thought out little article. I agree with it, use powerplay after 15 overs if one of your openers is going nuts, or use it with a harder ball at 35. The other option is picking a specific batsman to use the powerplay with eg. Albie Morkel or Afridi. So whenever Morkel/Afridi comes in he would get an over or two to get used to the conditions and bowling then you take the powerplay and watch the fireworks. Each team could almost have a designated hitter type who specialised in clearing the field for the powerplay overs. Australia for example could play Cameron White at #7, but bring him in when the innings needs a kick start and take the powerplay. He's not a batsman they rely on so it wouldn't matter much if he was dismissed straight away. Brad Haddin/James Hopes would also do it well when neither is opening.

Thanks for the early comments. I did not watch the India vs NZ series so I'm interested to hear that India used it in the middle overs, either to generate or maintain momentum/dominance. I've been surprised by the number of times teams keep holding it on to it like a precious trump card, only to keep losing wickets and then it eventually loses its potency. The big plus for using it earlier is that it forces the fielding captain to use his best bowlers early, therefore leaving more fodder for the death. Also, if the Powerplay fails, the batting team still has time to consolidate and launch again which they can't do if they take it too late.

Yes, I thought that Dhoni (and India) managed the batting powerplays quite well in the series against NZ. They took the powerplay after over 28 of 43 in the 1st ODI, after the 22nd over in the 3rd, after the 11th in the 4th (the match ended in the 23rd over). The one match where they messed up the powerplay was the 5th, where they were already 7 wickets down when they took the powerplay and wasted it.

So yes, captains should not delay the powerplay all the way to the slog (when they are going hard at it anyway). A better idea would be to take the powerplay in the 34-35 over range, so that you build up the momentum to take you through the slog overs. You could take it earlier (around the 30 over mark) if you have settled batsmen at the crease.

I think India has made the best use of batting powerplays because they have powerhitters from 1 to 7. Sachin, Sehwag, Gambhir,Yuvraj, Pathan and Dhoni can effortlessly clear any ground. They dont need powerplays for that. SA and AUS dont have such awesome hitters.

A nice article. Teams should know well when to use Powerplay. Captains must utilize their strategies when it comes to making right decisions for using powerplay. As a Bangladeshi, I do believe our team captain also knows this.

Hey Mike, I think that the batting powerplay is a wonderful addition to 50 over cricket. It makes the batting team think. However if these overs are just appended at the end of an innings then the full potential of these overs is not being realized. Also don't forget many a 50 over games during the AUS-SA Series changed course due to the clever implementation of the Batting PP. I do not really understand why you said that its a negative influence? Perhaps the case of sour grapes? Anyway, watch the Highlights of Ind-NZ and Ind-Eng or even Ind-SL matches to see how effectively the Batting PP has been used.

Michael,
A suggestion to you...I've been noticing in your posts the mention of "I don't know the statistics but I get the feeling" kind of argument. I think you are a perceptive writer and have some very good viewpoints and make good observations. But I just feel that that particular line of observation is not the best to serve you. For one, it sends a vibe of indulgence and hence may affect your credibility. Every once in a while it is OK to be indulgent without the backing of data but it may affect your credibility, or let me put it this way, it may make you seem like just another everyday blogger, if you do it too often. If you want to be viewed as just an everyday blogger whose viewpoint changes based on emotions very frequently then thats fine. But if you want to be viewed as one who brings at least a little bit of expertise in his viewpoints then you may want to address that point. Again this is just an observation from me..you may or may not want to post this message. :)

the best use of power play which I have watched so far happened in the 3rd ODI between India and NZ recently. India took the 3rd power play around 25th over when Sachin and Yuvraj were batting nicely. It was a shock for the NZ team as they were expecting it to happen in and around 40th over. Both of them scored over 10 runs in each of the power play overs thus increased the momentum and ultimately ended up scoring 380+ one of the highest ever totals. That was simply genius.

Since the article mentions it isnt based on statistics, it would be wrong to critique, but I do believe the post is a little presumptious and based on, well, the prespective of the writer in lieu of the recent series of Australia and Pakistan. Batting powerplay is obviously a new nuance that the teams are experimenting with and I believe it was already common concensus amongst the top teams that the best time was when the new(er) ball was taken after the 34th over. And I think that it still is the mark around which the teams look for the powerplay.But the dynamics of the game i.e. too many wickets down, new batsmen in etc..result in that being pushed towards the end. Because it is important to note that as attacking a option as the batting powerplay is,it is as much attacking and potentially benefical for the bowling side. With the batsmen looking to attack, wickets can fall as easily, and if that happens early in the innings recovery, as we know, is hard. Hence the delay

As like many above, i think Sachin-Yuvaraj taking batting powerplay in 3rd ODI in 23rd over was the best. Kiwis went in with four seamers and the best of the lot Butler had to retire injured. The other three had just finished their spell and Jeetan patel was about to come into attack. Sachin sprung a suprise at Kiwis by taking the powerplay. Confused they bowled their part-timers and also Jeetan patel ended up bowling only 5 overs. It ended up atrociously with Elliott and Ryder bowling 12 overs for 116 while Patel bowled only 5 overs for 37. Never seen a batting powerplay that threw the opposition in total disarray as this one !!

I further want to illustrate on the India-NZ series, which many readers have commented on. First two matches were badly affected by the weather and the last one India lost badly bacuse the kept losing wickets. But the in the 3rd ODI India were 121/2 after 22 overs when they decided to take batting powerplay. India took 69 of that powerplay and were 190/2 after 27 overs.Infact at the end of 18th over they were 90/2 and in a nine over spell they more than doubled their score. In fourth ODI which was again affected by rain. India were 89/0 after 11overs and bowling powerplay was not taken by NZ when India took batting powerplay to maintain the momentum. NZ never took the bowling powerplay in that match and India won on DL after consisten rain interruptions

Perhaps the most effective strategy would be for each team to identify the ideal players to have at the crease for the powerplay, rather than picking a period of the innings at which to take it each time. When India has used the batting powerplay most effectively, it has been when Yuvraj was at the crease (usually 20th to 30th over) or in NZ, with Sehwag (11th over) at the crease. Similarly SA have been most effective with Morkel.

Thus each team would have different times in the innings when they use the batting powerplay most effectively, based on the position of their biggest hitters in the batting order.

"I’d have to say that I think the Batting Powerplay has often been more of a negative than a positive to most teams."
Thats a pretty bold statement to make if you're basing it only on two series involving three teams, one of whom gets to play as often the associate nations. The trouble is poor captaincy is at fault here, Ponting has mentioned on at least one occasion that he has not fully understood how to use it.
My own point of view is that it is ideal to use it in two circumstances:
1) You've got two set batsman at the crease who can probably take the game away with an onslaught
2) To counter attack when the opposition tries to stifle scoring options
The danger with the batting powerplay is that it can force a team to take risks to gain the initiative thereby being a double-edge sword, which is probably why teams are hesitant to take it too early, risk aversion determines it is better to miss out on the power play than lose the top order trying to gain too much.

Saurabh, I agree totally that the Batting PP is a great addition to the game. I wasn't saying that it was negative, I was merely saying that many teams have found it be a negative in the sense that the PP has actually disadvantaged them if used poorly. It's certainly not a case of sour grapes because I'm the first one to concede that SA used the PP quite effectively but Australia have rarely been able to use it to good effect. That was the whole point of my article - to illustrate that Australia (and perhaps Pakistan's) use of it has been poorly executed and that's why I think it needs to be used earlier in the innings. I don't support any team per se - I just love watching cricket, regardless of who is playing.

Hi Vijay, thanks for your constructive feedback mate. It's never my decision whether to publish a comment or not. Your comments get sent to Cricinfo and the first I see it is when it gets posted on the site.
Thanks for the critique and I'll certainly try to take your comments on board. You'll notice in my posts called "Get Lefty", I did invest many hours in trawling through statsguru to come up with detailed averages to support my argument. Sadly, too often, I just don't have the resources to back up every opinion with detailed stats so I have to make generalisations based on my overall gut feeling. If I was writing a stats-type column, I would definitely need to provide evidence but as this blog is pretty much about opinions and personal perspectives on different issues, I'm less inclined to clog it up with a host of numbers and decimal points. Your points are well made though and I'll certainly use it to keep improving. Thanks mate.

It is really ridiculous to see some of the teams leaving Power Play as late as 45th over. Well it may not sound ridiculous, but the part that makes this part look pathetic is that most of the time, by then teams are already 7 down or something like it.
In 1st ODI between Pakistan - Sri Lanka (Feb 09), Lankans used Power Play after 45th Over when they were 9 down. Similarly in ongoing series between Australia and Pakistan, Pakistan used power play after 45th over in 3rd ODI of the series when most of the proper batsmen were already dismissed.
In my opinion, best time of taking batting power play is any time when your batsmen are set any time after 34th over (ball change time).
This is where India did well in New Zealand by not letting it for too late.
Clearly Australia and Pakistan are not getting the things right in this field.
Guru Mantra is that you should take Power Play when you have batsmen to take its advantage and not that your No 9 or No 10 is at crease.

I think India and SA have made the best use of batting powerplays. I have never seen Australians performing good in Batting PP. Other teams are also yet to fully understand and master this art. I was surprized to see Ponting failing to utilize PP to a good effect.

Michael for a change start watching India's matches, specially the last 3 series against Sri Lanka, England and New Zealand. India have used the batting powerplay quite judiciously. Although you mention that you watch cricket irrespective of who is playing, your blogs suggest on the contrary. No mention of India's performance anywhere.

I think M.S.Dhoni (INDIA) did a very good job in taking the Batting Powerplays against New Zealand.