Mumbai: While cricketers in the Indian Premier League (IPL) go about their job of smashing the ball, or giving that vital breakthrough to the team, or taking an amazing catch with monotonous regularity, precious little is known about the backroom boys who keep track of every single run scored, or ball bowled on their laptops, analysing the game ball-by-ball, bit-by-bit to give a 360-degree view and vital clues to win the games.
A team analyst’s job is no less challenging than that challenges the players face on the field, but it’s just that they continue to remain unknown entities even as players hog the limelight.
Shedding light on his role with the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), team analyst Freddie Wilde said that he is constantly looking for areas where the team can improve and suggest them to the coaching staff and the players so that the team is able to achieve its goal of winning.
“I’m always sort of looking where we can improve, where we’ve been doing well, things we can change, things we might want to keep the same, that sort of constant conversation happens between me and the coaches,” said Freddie on Friday.
“On a basic level, I’m there scoring (navigating) the game. Just sort of making sure across who sort of has bowled when, how many overs guys have got left. But then there’s also the more analytical side of it, which is looking at potential matchups, which bowler should be bowling to certain players, maybe we want a change in the batting order, and if that occurs, I’ll have a quick chat with Hess (Mike Hesson, RCB director of cricket operations) or Sanjay (Bangar, RCB head coach), or if it’s something to do with bowling lengths or bowling tactics, I might talk to Sri (Sridharan Sriram, batting and spin bowling coach) or Griff (Adam Griffith, bowling coach), and that will be communicated to the players at the timeout when the coaches head out there.”
Freddie said that he breaks up his assessment into the really basic things and the analytical part, which is needed to acquire that cutting tactical edge.
“There are sort of two elements to it — the basics, and then there’s the more analytical stuff and trying to actually find tactical edges that we can pass out to the players,” he said.
Freddie, who hails from England and has also been associated with Big Bash League (BBL) side Melbourne Renegades, added that it all depends on that particular individual on whether he is open to the suggestions or not, adding that he found pace bowler Harshal Patel quite receptive.
“I think it all depends on the individual,” said Freddie. “Certain players are really keen for information. For example, someone like Harshal comes to me asks quite a lot of questions, he’s trying to find out some of the more detailed things with certain venues, certain batters. Other players might want slightly less information,” he told RCB Bold Diaries.
So, how does the message get communicated to the players who might not be as keen?
“And that’s where quite often I might communicate it to Griff (Adam Griffith), and Griff then has his one-on-ones with the bowlers and help pass them on,” said the analyst.
“Every player is different and quite often we deal with players on a one-on-one basis, rather than sitting everyone down in a meeting room, and just telling them ‘This is the length to bowl’. Everyone learns differently, think of language barriers as well — not everyone’s fluent in English. So you have to try and adapt to that and actually pass the message across in a way that sticks with the player.
“Also particularly because the simpler the message the better. It might just be one thing, might just be one particular thing, I spend hours there looking at bowling plans, coming up with different options, but on the day it might just boil down to one piece of information, and it’s about making sure that that is communicated to the player as quickly as possible,” he added.
–IANS