Cricket Adopts Cycling's "Domestique" Strategy

(Photo by James Knowler/Getty Images)

Are set-pieces only a thing of football (soccer) and hockey (field)? Are target hitters only shooters, archers and baseline tennis players? How far are the strategies in one sport or one genre of sport embraced in the others? Does only cricket adopt ice-hockey's power-play methodologies to spice things up?

Here, I take a look at cricket's adaptation of cycling's "domestique" strategy. I had written this as means of demonstrating the strides Rajastan Royals had made in terms of incorporating the best sporting strategies on and off the field during the IPL this year. Have a read:

This article was first published in Cricbuzz

May 01, 2009

In cycling parlance, a domestique is a rider who does everything to help the team's main rider—a Lance Armstrong—win the race. During the course of a race, a team will use a domestique to pull the leader from the pack of cyclists (also called the peloton) and push ahead of the field.

A domestique is used to shield the main rider from gusts of strong winds, and even asked to give up his wheel if the main rider has a flat tyre. A team generally uses multiple domestiques to help the rider through different stages—a steep mountain climb, a flat fast run, or even just run up to the team van and fetch the lead rider an energy drink because he feels spent. Finally, when they have all done their jobs, they let the lead rider floor the pedal and take them to victory.

We see a similar pattern emerging in cricket through T20 cricket. Teams seem to have identified their lead match-winner—a batsman and/or a bowler—and use the others to do the brick-building so that a launch pad is ready to unleash them. We are getting to see football-style set pieces with some teams settling for one over bowling spells. Some teams use certain bowlers fully up front while others seem to hold back all four overs of a bowler for the business end of the innings. Some medium pacers bowl an entire over of slower balls at the slog!

Rajasthan Royals have clearly led the way in this regard. They have identified Yusuf Pathan as their match-winner and seem to have settled on the strategy to hold him back for the last eight overs of the innings.

It is a lot easier for Rajasthan to get people to serve as domestiques, as they are a team with very few superstars. They executed their plan perfectly in the game against Delhi when they successfully held back Pathan even while losing early wickets. Shane Warne promoted himself up the order so as to keep Pathan for the end of the innings. Even Graeme Smith played a willing domestique to Pathan and ensured that he shielded Pathan from the pace of Nannes and let him loose when the spin of Vettori and Mishra came along. And Pathan took them home easily in the end.

Crucially, they seem to understand that Pathan can win them the matches from situations where they need say 50 or 60 runs from the last five overs (when it is more than that they struggle, as they found out against Chennai in their last game on Thursday evening). Their set pieces are impressive and their strategy is devised keeping in mind the limitations of their players.

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