IAN CHAPPELL

I watched aghast as Hardik Pandya was needlessly run out in the first innings of the second Test against South Africa. I wondered whatever happened to adhering to the basic principles of the game? I’m not talking about coaches developing new techniques to enhance the power hitting required in the modern game; or the tactics devised to curb the flood of runs caused by the increased boundary flow; I’m talking about simple, basic principles of the game.

These principles apply in any form of the game and ignored, they can lose games, as Pandya’s brain fade may well have done. “Always ground your bat when running between wickets,” it should have been one of the first things Pandya was told by a coach.

There weren’t many coaches when I was growing up but I had a good one who didn’t ignore the basics of the game. With so many coaches available these days, I’m wondering whether it’s that they don’t hammer home the basic principles or the players choose to ignore them?

Pandya’s laziness; sloppiness; arrogance; call it whatever you want, it was unforgivable.

Basic principles like grounding your bat; not turning blind; always balancing yourself with a slight foot turn before taking a catch in the slips; these should be adhered to. If they’re ignored it’s a fair bet they’ll bite you on the backside at the most inopportune time. And no sooner was Pandya back in the pavilion ruing his needless error, than in another part of the world South African U-19 opener Jiveshan Pillay was out, obstructing the field. This used to be out “handled the ball” but the law has been changed.

No matter what appears in the scorebook, it can easily be avoided. When I was nine-years old, my father Martin was captaining a club side filled with young talent. An opposition youngster used his hand to stop the ball hitting his stumps and Martin appealed; the batsman was given out.