Cricket Captaincy and the Role of the On-Field Think Tank

[jalebi_bhai]

 

 

It is a common practice for cricket captains nowadays to deputize certain on-field responsibilities to certain players during the course of a match, particularly when fielding. For example, during the death overs of the second innings in yesterday's India-England T20 game, it appeared as if Dhoni had been assigned the responsibility of setting the field while skipper Kohli was busy fielding in the deep. Nehra, as has been mentioned by the likes of Pandya and Bumrah, is the on-field bowling mentor of the T20 team. 

 

All this makes me wonder about the role and importance of the on-field think thank across different teams, formats, levels and eras. Did the great sides of the past have as influential and effective an on-field think tank as teams these days do? How have the roles of the on-field think tank evolved over the decades? And the big question.....does a player's contribution to the on-field think tank sway captains to pick them ahead of slightly better but less rounded players?

 

As they say, cricket is a game of fine margins, and every advantage gained counts.

 

[Trichromatic]

Brilliant captaincy by Cummins. Totally outplayed India in first inning.