Enjoy the six-hitting show while it lasts as bowlers could roar back in World Cup

Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Travis Head hits a six during the IPL match against Lucknow Super Giants. — AFP

The 2024 Indian Premier League looks set to revolutionise modern-day cricket in the context of how batters, in particular, approach the game and have turned it on its head.

There is no hiding from the fact that the T20 game is being played like never before with batters pulverising the opponents to death in almost every game.

Six-hitting has been taken to an all-new level by the likes of Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen (SRH) Sunil Narine (KKR) and Jake Fraser-McGurk (DC) and there is no looking back, or below.

Already the tournament has yielded over 1,000 maximums in just 57 matches at a staggering average of nearly 18 per game, or one every 13 balls.

Sports fans like their attacking sportsmen like Lionel Messi, Roger Federer, Manny Pacquiao, and T20 cricket are feeding them with some of the most offensive batters ever to play the game. The skill sets of the big hitters, which are their strengths and weapons, principally revolve around timing, pressuring the bowler and doing the math.

Using an aggressive mindset they can control the bowler and make him deliver the ball the way you want it. But it’s not just all about aggression today’s cricketers invest heavily in the mental side of the game as it is not as easy as it seems to pull off those great shots.

The great Viv Richards once said that cricket has become a batsman’s game and is far removed from the day when the likes of Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, Dennis Lillee, Allan Donald or Wasim Akram terrorised the batters on the pitch.

Richards, one of the hardest hitters of the cricket ball, felt pity for the bowlers who were at the mercy of swords that the batsmen wielded, denied by batting-friendly pitches and small boundaries.

While the flat decks at the ongoing IPL might have heavily favoured the batsmen, it is conceivable that the balance will be restored during this summer’s ICC T20 World Cup in the USA and West Indies.

As we saw during the 2010 T20 World Cup, the pitches in the West Indies are not tailored for high scoring. The climate and timing of the matches are also sure to have a huge impact and make it more challenging for the batters. The dry pitches in the Caribbean will rough up the ball quicker paving the way for spinners to work their magic and test the batters, unlike in the IPL.

With Royal Challengers Bengaluru, one of the most talent-rich sides to have never won the tournament, star batter Virak Kohli appeared to be feeling the weight of expectations when he hit out at expert commentators like Sunil Gavaskar for questioning his strike-rate and chinks against spin bowling.

Gavaskar hit back at the star batter for seeking ‘appreciation for a strike-rate of 118′ and also received the support of Pakistan cricket great Wasim Akram who felt that Kohli should not have said what he did.

“Both are proud Indians; both are greats. It’s OK; they both will move in pretty quickly. I don’t think either will take it personally. They will be fine, I know. I am telling you now. I know them both very well,” Akram said.

For the record, Kohli’s overall strike rate this season in the IPL is 148.08, which is very good for someone who has scored 542 runs.

But it’s the intrepid style of players like Head, whose 533 runs in 11 matches have been scored at a mind-boggling strike rate of 201.89, that has completely changed the dynamics of the game.

It’s not going to be easy, though, to carry on with his cavalier style when the World Cup starts next month in the West Indies and the US.

Even Head, whose 30-ball unbeaten 89 helped Sunrrisers chase down 165 in just 9.4 overs against Lucknow Super Giants on Wednesday, knows that it’s going to be a different ballgame the World Cup.

“Whenever you’re playing, you want to be as consistent as you can, you want to be getting runs. It’s nice to be playing well (but) that’s not going to guarantee anything in the West Indies,” said Head.

“I think we’ll face a fair bit of spin in the Caribbean and the wickets might become tougher as the tournament goes on.”

It’s when there is a fair contest between the bat and the ball that the classy batters like Kohli thrive.