What makes MI the best team in IPL history? Fielding coach James Pamment reveals inside details
14 days ahead of its scheduled start, the 13th season of the Indian Premier League was postponed indefinitely by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, owing to a raging Covid-19 pandemic. With cricketing action coming to a forced halt for the first time since 1945 (WWII), top players turned into talk show hosts on social media, stranded between the walls of their homes. The world that woke up after a six-month-lockdown was not the same. With a fiercely cut pre-season and potentially the enforced laziness at home, cricketers that boarded the flight to IPL were no different. Case in point Trent Boult, who had just been through five months of harsh New Zealand winter was not able to train outdoors despite the Jacinda Ardern-led nation managing the pandemic better than most countries in the world. Asked about the issue of fitness in a pre-tournament conference, KKR coach Brendon McCullum had admitted to HT, “I am certainly not throwing stones about people’s shape. Around the cricketing world, I think various people have dealt with this Covid period in various ways.” Not used to being confined to their homes for such a long timeframe, cricketers were visibly rusty in the initial phase of the tournament. The feet movement looked sluggish, some tweaked their muscles, while others looked to have put on a chunk of weight, and understandably so. But what turned out to be the biggest talking point of the first half of the tournament was the number of catches each team had dropped. According to ESPNCricinfo, inside the first month of the tournament (Sept 19 - Oct 12) the butterfingers led to a total of 53 dropped catches. The Royal Challengers Bangalore led the charts dropping 12 chances followed by Delhi Capitals who fumbled 10. RCB’s fielding standards did not improve as the tournament progressed. At the end of the season, RCB were able to hold onto just 69 per cent of their chances. Having said that, not all teams fared the same. Eventual champions Mumbai Indians, as cheesy as it might get, exemplified the old adage - catches win matches. In the early phase of the tournament, the team had just dropped 4 chances against RCB’s 12, and at the end of the competition had grabbed a steep 88 per cent of the balls that went up in the air. Even if you were to move away from the IPL and look at subsequent series like Border-Gavaskar and the Trans-Tasman Trophy, poor catching turned out to be the Achilles heel at crucial junctures of the game. In the Adelaide Test that India lost by eight wickets, the team had dropped 4 chances. The historic Boxing Day loss against India by exactly the same margin, Australia had grassed as many as seven. With the increased scrutiny around fielding and fitness standards in mind, OneCricket caught up with the Mumbai Indians fielding coach James Pamment. Lovingly called ‘The Commander’ in the Mumbai Indians camp, Pamment is an English born former NZ first-class cricketer. Vying his trade with the franchise since 2018, Pamment had to fill the big boots of Jonty Rhodes, arguably the greatest fielder in the history of the game. And it is safe to say, he passed with flying colours. In an exclusive interview, the giant Kiwi provided insight about biomechanics, temperament and how much work gets put behind the scene to make someone like Trent Boult one of the best fielders in the world. Excerpts... Thanks for sitting down with us coach, tell us about yourself. Who is James Pamment? I am James Pammnet, based out of New Zealand, I have been in New Zealand from the late 80s, originally born and bred in Yorkshire England. Learnt all my cricket there, coming through different age groups. I got an opportunity to travel to New Zealand in the late 80s and eventually settled my family there. I am an ex-first class cricketer, somebody who always has loved the game and I guess I have always been a coach as well. Even when I was a player, I was coaching the youth underneath me and I am very fortunate to have been a coach in my career in the last 10-15 years. I secured an opportunity to work with the Mumbai Indians in 2018 and I have been with the franchise for four seasons now and have thoroughly enjoyed my time here. Before I delve into Mumbai, congrats that NZ beat Australia, rather convincingly in the final game. It’s always good to beat the big brothers from over the Tasman sea, so every time we beat them is something to be treasured and our guys played a thoroughly good game. Fine then coach, let’s start. How much of fielding is about fitness, how much is about technique and how much is a gift? The only gift you get is the athletic base from which you start. So, if you’re a natural athlete it is a great advantage but I don’t know too many professional cricketers who work especially these days on their athletic development. If you are reasonably fit and you are reasonably strong and you’re reasonably agile then there is no reason why you cannot become a competent fielder. A lot of it then comes down to the instincts of the fielders and just how much are they engaged on a ball by ball process. So I guess you have seen a lot of catches dropped, if you reflect back on IPL and the other competitions that have gone on since the lockdown last year around the world, there has been a lot of catches dropped. And I think that is mainly down to routines and anticipation. I don't think it is too much technical, but you know, if the volume of work is being done to try and address that is not prompted, more technical work if there is technical issues then more catches will continue to be dropped. But for me, it’s probably more about routines and anticipation and awareness that have created a number of dropped catches across a number of different formats. Fielding in the post-pandemic era has turned out to be an issue. An unprecedented number of catches were dropped in IPL 2020, both India and Australia lost their Test matches due to poor fielding. What seems to be the issue here? Catching is so vitally important you know. In the shorter and more dynamic formats of the game, one catch can determine a win or a loss. Not so much in the 5 days of a Test match, but it’s still pivotal because, if you drop a key player or you miss a key opportunity, then that player goes on and gets a significant score then you will reflect back on that. Everybody was drooling over Ben Foakes and his wicket-keeping in the second Test match, but he missed a very simple stumping of Ashwin when I think he was about 60. Keeping and fielding is all about anticipation. It’s all about reading the cues and it’s all about getting ready for what’s happening next rather than reflecting on what has just happened. So, like I say, a lot of it comes down to that anticipation and awareness and just making sure that the volume of work gets done. That’s why we practice all forms of cricket, to try and improve and to try and get better. If these mistakes are repeatedly occurring, then either the coaching staff or players themselves more importantly are not taking responsibility for the work that they are doing. I am glad that you brought Ben Foakes up, he has got such an unconventional technique. How does a coach approach that? Well, you look across all disciplines and how would you try and coach these unique players around the world. It’s about consistency, if you have a player who has been performing at a very high level in an unconventional manner, all you try to do is to keep encouraging him to try and do better. You don't try and change them, especially not at the top end of the game, because if you did try and change these guys who have been doing what they are doing for a long number of years then potentially you run into some issues. We wouldn't see the likes of Malinga, Jasprit Bumrah if people did not embrace different ways of doing things. It’s about getting the job done at the end of the day and from the wicketkeeping point of view, it’s about catching every ball. We saw Pant drop a catch in the first over of the first Test match and then he returned to take a brilliant catch in the second Test and once again it comes back to routines, it comes back to awareness and it comes back to concentration and what’s happening next and not what happened two weeks ago in Australia. It’s about doing the job in the moment. There has been a significant rise in injuries since the restart of cricket. What’s your take on that? I’m not sure about that. I will take your word for it. Within our group, Mumbai Indians, we did not have too many injuries. We were perhaps fortunate that way. If there were injuries occurring it would come down to the athletic conditioning of the players. Are they in the same shape as to what they were before the pandemic started? Our boys were monitored in that period, they were encouraged to keep up a strong physical fitness base from conditioning and from a strength point of view. I guess if guys aren’t being monitored, then perhaps they won’t do the work that needs to be done. Then that’s short-sighted from the players if they are doing that because you know, they are taking arms up against themselves really. Reflecting on our group, I think we had Rohit who pulled up his hamstring while running in the super over, so that’s probably a fatigue thing. I think we had Sourabh Tiwary who injured himself in the gym, apart from that I can’t recall too many injuries in our group. MI is a fantastic fielding side, Boult, Pandya, Pollard, de Kock, Suryakumar Yadav. What’s the training like? Very individual-based. Because IPL is such a demanding time, we don’t get to do a lot of teamwork. Certainly based in NZ, we would do a lot more work together as a team and then you pick off individuals to work on their ‘key work-ons’. In the intensity of the IPL it is more just pop-ups really. Certainly, some of the younger players, the uncapped players, a lot of work is done with those guys to get them up to speed. If they do get an opportunity to be selected in the team or go out in the park as a reserve fielder then their standards are good enough to make sure that the job can get done. But like you said, we have got a number of fine fielding athletes in our group and that sends the standards in itself. So you don’t have the coach setting standards when you have a number of players of that ilk who are setting the standards for you. It then is about making sure that everybody is concentrated, everyone knows where they need to be and everybody is in tune with what the bowler is trying to achieve and what the group plan is collectively across the 20 overs and yeah, trying to live it to the best of our abilities. Mistakes always happen but they are great opportunities to learn and to move forward and maybe from a coaching point of view, add some value. I just want to delve into this a bit more, when you say that in New Zealand you train more as a team but in IPL it’s more individual-based, can you talk about that a bit more? We go through a number of drills and try and replicate game situations, you know, but you do them collectively as a team to try and get the energy and attitude through the group. I think, without question, man for man, athletically, the teams that I have worked with in New Zealand have been of a higher standard than the majority of the places in the world. These guys almost demand that of themselves. The collective group fielding is what sets the tone for a training session or for the game at the start of the day. You’ve also gotta be pretty mindful that in the IPL, it is a very intense period where you are generally travelling, training and playing in a very short space of time, so energy management is really important. You tend to find that you pick up individuals rather than have a 15-20 minute session collectively. You pick up individuals and you do some real specific training work to their position that they are likely to field in. But you know, if we had these guys all the time over an extended period, I can guarantee that we would do a lot more collective work which would not only enhance an individual's ability and awareness around group fielding but it will enhance the team’s attitude towards fielding. Not that we lack that; we have that not by default but because there are individuals in the group who demand that standard. But you can tell that not all the groups are the same. A couple of players have spoken about how the pre-tournament training process needs to change entirely. What’s your take on that? For me, that just comes down to the respective creativity and imaginations of the group. In New Zealand, we generally have pretty long winters, so our domestic season generally finishes in April and doesn’t start again till October. If we are lucky we might be able to get outside in the open air in September, so we have got 4-5 months there where we are training predominantly indoors. And it doesn’t restrict us because we can use our imagination and if we can get some creativity going, we can replicate match situations from a fielding point of view indoors. So, obviously, a lot of it is determined by the amount of space that you have got and the access to what facilities you have, but if you use your imagination, there is nothing that can’t be replicated indoors with the exception at times of high catches. I was very fortunate to have worked with some very talented young players as they were coming in through the grades. Through those winter months in New Zealand guys like Kane Williamson and Trent Boult, and we would spend four to five of those months learning how to dive properly. Learning those subtle techniques which would then allow you to go out onto the cricket field and do things that are quite extraordinary. But if you don’t lay that base then you are always a bit apprehensive about what you do. So, you need to have a little bit of imagination and creativity in the work that you do and players generally enjoy that type of things because these are different from their usual bat-ball skills that get taken care of in the nets. In Mumbai, the India based boys prepare for the UAE IPL in our corporate facility in Navi Mumbai. So, even in monsoon season, they found time to do a throwing programme, to bat and bowl out in the middle under a marquee kind of a setting that was created for them and they got to do some fielding despite the heavy showers that were coming in. So, there’s always a way to get around things if you are prepared to think outside the box a little bit. In MI, you have players of heavy built like Pollard, Saurabh Tiwary and Rohit Sharma, what’s the process with these guys? Well you know, that’s not my specific area. We have a real expert, Paul Chapman who has worked with a number of international teams and currently works with Queensland Cricket in Australia. He has been with MI for about 7-8 years now. Ultimately you can put the entire information in front of the players, you can put as much motivation in front of them as well and encourage them, but it is down to the individual. If the individual feels that they can do the job for the team in the fitness state that they are in at the moment that’s up to them. But if injuries keep occurring then they are missing out on games. When the team goes out into the park and those players cannot perform to their optimum level because they are carrying injures, then the individual needs to reflect on the current situation he is at. So, all encouragement is provided, all information is given but ultimately it all comes down to the player. Certainly, in environments I have been in, ultimately if a player becomes consistently unavailable or performing below a level of expectation then you find the selectors making a decision and that is always a sad way for it to go. Having seen Arjun Tendulkar in the nets last season, what are the expectations from the uncapped youngster? I have seen him as a net bowler. I am not a selector so I am not exactly sure of the ins and outs of what they have seen. He performed I guess like most net bowlers in the UAE. We had quite a group of net bowlers for the tournament who were a vital part of our success and another young man Yudhvir (Charak) who has been promoted to the senior squad and you know, it is a great opportunity for those guys. My expectation of them would be that they give their hundred per cent and they sop up all the information around them like a sponge and improve every day. If they are doing that then who knows? They are there in case we need them and it is a wonderful opportunity for those guys. Every year we are giving opportunities to young players to showcase their talents and skills and mainly their aptitude for learning and development. So that would be my expectation from them that they can improve throughout their time at the Mumbai Indians.
 "Mayank Kumar")
