Eden Park, Auckland is a rather queer ground. The dimensions of this ground bring a completely different challenge for batsmen and bowlers alike and if you do not take that into account, it's unlikely that triumph would be yours. The straight boundaries at Eden Park are extremely short while the square boundaries just about fit into the ordinary category.
What this means is that bowlers need to shorten their length and avoid length balls. Remember Grant Elliott's extraordinary maximum off Dale Steyn in the 2015 World Cup semi-final? It came over wide long-on, a rather easy region for batsmen to target here given the short straight boundaries.
The dimensions challenge the thinking of a captain and also the game plan of bowlers. Take how Shivam Dube and Shardul Thakur fared for instance. Thakur is the mainstay pacer in the Indian side while Dube's medium pace is deemed as a fifth bowling option, if not sixth.
But on Friday, the all-rounder had much more success than Thakur owing to the manner in which he adjusted to the ground. While Thakur was either too full or too short with his predictable lengths, Dube mixed up his length. Both bowlers bowled the slower variations but Dube wasn't taken for as much runs as Thakur as he bowled his slower ones either short (forcing the batsmen to go for the square longer boundaries) or wide and full (again the square boundaries).
Thakur, on the other hand, bowled his slower balls fuller and straighter allowing batsmen to clear the inner circle or the fence even if they do not get hold of the ball completely - a reason why Munro survived for as long as he did despite not finding the middle of the bat a lot of times.
Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor and Shreyas Iyer also thrived on this understanding of the ground - playing a lot of straight shots or flicking very fine through the leg-side. 20 of Iyer's 58 runs came down the ground while two of Williamson's four sixes also came down the ground. Ross Taylor hit three sixes - all in the wide long-on to cow corner region, yet again targetting a short part of the boundary rope.
KL Rahul and Virat Kohli also utilised this ground's unique dimensions while Tim Southee notably failed to bowl to the conditions and the ground. In the final over bowled by him, the experienced New Zealand seamer leaked 18 runs with the two sixes coming through wide long-on and long-off. The one boundary came between fine-leg and square leg as he went too straight at Iyer.
While most of the bowlers failed to adapt, Yuzvendra Chahal, who bowled a brilliant first over amidst the chaos caused by Guptill and Munro, and Dube were brilliant. Mitchell Santner started well for the Kiwis but soon lost his line and was subsequently thrashed around the park.
While T20 games present unique challenges, the Eden Park stands out for offering a completely different set of challenges for batsmen, bowlers and captains alike. The high-scoring game on Friday had some extraordinary moments which highlighted how understanding of the dimensions of the ground was quintessential to staying on top of the opposition.
Feature image courtesy: AFP / David Rowland
