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Way back in 2006 when Team India played their first ever T20 match in Johannesburg against South Africa – the shortest format of the game wasn’t a high-scoring affair at all. In that game that saw India winning over South Africa by 6 wickets and Dinesh Karthik was the man of the match with a score of 31 of 28 deliveries – the hosts could only collect 126 at the loss of nine wickets from stipulated 20 overs.
Almost 18 years later, T20 has only gained pace and sharpness but become a graveyard for bowlers. Dinesh Kathik, who had a strike of 110.71 in India’s first T20 match win in 2006, has managed to get a whopping strike-rate of 237.14 in last In the Royals Challengers Bangalore Vs Sunrisers Hyderabad match, wherein he made 83 from 35 balls with five fours and seven hits over the fence. In all, 549 runs were scored by both RCB and SRH. In fact, SRH’s score of 287 in the highest ever team score in the history of IPL and, in reply, RCB scoring 262 runs – also turned out to be a match that saw maximum runs scored in an IPL game.
The competition has only gotten stiffer. The very next day saw a record run-chase at Kolkat’s Eden Gardens. Such is life! Kolkata Knight Riders were supremely confident after scoring 223 for 6 – thanks to Sunil Narine 109 off 56 deliveries. But their hopes came dashing down after Jos Butler did the unthinkable. Rounding-up the match in grand old style, Butler was just unimaginable. He made a mockery of the KKR bowler and by playing shots as per his wish. Any batter, who can hit a six off a fast bowler at will is automatically a super-hit in the IPL.
Therefore, batsmen like Heinrich Klaasen, Rohit Sharma and Nicolas Pooran are so special and after the KKR Vs Rajasthan match, Butler has also entered an elite group of six-hitters. Batsmen like them have made T20 fast and furious. A score of 287 was big enough in 50 overs and now in T20, it is only a safe score. That day isn’t far off when 300 runs in 20 overs would be considered a good score. Now it is changing and we don’t know if it is changing for good or not.
There was a time when an IPL bowler conceding between 6 to 7 runs was considered to be decent. Then, it went up to 8 runs per over and now it could be 10. In the days to come, if bowling a full quota of four overs and giving away 40 runs would be considered a good spell, would it still be said that batsmen win games while bowlers win tournaments?
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