Impact Player Had a Massive Effect, T20 Cricket Unrecognisable From 10 Years Ago: Ryan ten Doeschate

Punjab Kings have set a new benchmark. (BCCI Photo)

Since the inception of T20 cricket, the teams’ totals have crept higher and higher still. At the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, it has taken quite a few giant strides.

Midway through the IPL 2024, 200 seems to have become the par score now and a total in excess of 260 is not safe anymore. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) found out that fact rather harshly on Friday night after losing to Punjab Kings (PBKS) at Eden Gardens.

Jonny Bairstow’s unbeaten century off 45 balls spearheaded the PBKS to the highest successful run chase in T20 cricket history as they hunted 262 in 18.4 overs.

Ryan ten Doeschate, KKR fielding coach, at the post-match press conference said that he felt his side had scored ‘enough’ for  win.

“Ordinarily, you’d said it is (importance of winning toss because of pitches) but I think if you told us that we would score 261 tonight, you almost couldn’t fathom a team chasing that down. And it is the same for us when we’re batting first. We have an extra batter in the shed so you can go pretty hard. I guess – the mindset of the batters has to be prepared to go hard the whole 20 overs till the situation changes. And like I said with the ball, there’s an upside to being brave and really going at the batters rather than sitting back and waiting to find a way to stop the stream of runs that has been coming,” Ten Doeschate said.

For KKR, Sunil Narine and Phil Salt combined for 138 runs – which is now the highest opening stand this season.

“I mean, 260 has got to be a good score. It felt like we didn’t stop scoring boundaries. Sunil and Salt were fantastic and it was nice to see the captain sort of find a bit of rhythm which was probably the biggest positive from tonight,” Ten Doeschate said.

“But we could play on this piece of marble. Yeah. And if you give me a 260, I think it’s enough. So I think there’s also a danger of aiming too high. But I guess now we have to be looking at 240 If the wicked is going to be as good as that minimum,” he added.

When asked if KKR may have been a ‘few runs short’ even after scoring the highest total at Eden Gardens, which eventually got eclipsed, he said, “No, I don’t think so. You know, obviously, were we aiming a little bit higher at some stage? Losing those wickets. There was a little bit of momentum shift when Sunil got out and then Salt got out.”

“But I think it wasn’t far off. I think the highest thing we ever looked at was about 270. So 261 is a couple of short. Guess it a matter of a couple of balls, and that does happen,” he added.

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160 before the 13th Over

Ten Doeschate feels that the shortest format of the game has evolved quite a lot and bowling in T20 cricket has to evolve too.

“Yeah, first of all, I’ll say the impact players obviously had a massive effect on how guys go about scoring. And the game is almost unrecognisable from 10 years ago, you know when used to play. If you get past 160, you pack your bag and you feel you got the win. Now you need 160 before the 13th over to have a chance to get a big score,” he said.

“There are obvious things you know go to death earlier, select to shut down one side which I think we could have done better tonight. And you almost want to bowl with anti-skill. I think we are short and wide works in dragging guys wide and then going straight. You’ve almost got to catch guys with quite a little bit off guard like Sam Curran got Salt tonight. Set am offside field, drag him across and then fire one in at leg stump.

“So we have to come up with innovative ways. We have to keep changing. Literally ball by ball. I don’t think we can bowl two balls the same or you can go with both bowlers back to back anymore unless they really have a grip on the game,” he added.

While losing a game when defending such a big total, only Narine seemed to have some control on the flow of runs from the opposition batters. Others were smashed all over the park.

An economy of 6, compared to 16.09 of the other says a lot.

“Just take a step back. Like you said Sunil was fantastic. But the other guys will be disappointed as we are. By and large, they’ve been pretty good at problem-solving. They’re working really hard and we need to find ways to stop batters taking the game away like they are doing across the competition,” Ten Doeschate said.

Embrace the Challenge

When asked if bowlers are becoming redundant in the game of bat and bowl, Ten Doeschate said, “I don’t think it always was the contest between the bat and the ball. But the facts are that it’s here for this season. And there are two ways you can look at it you can step back and say it’s unfair. We are bowling machines or you can say we’re going to find the way we are going to be the point of difference compared to other teams. We’re going to try new things. We are going to embrace the challenge.

“Yes, it’s going to be tough. We’re going to get a panned all over the show. But you have to find innovative ways and new ways at least for the next – about what got four weeks left. It’s going to be around for at least that long. So there’s no point crying about it. Everything was already in the batter’s favor. I feel sorry for the bowlers, I think that’s gone even more towards that side. But those are the points those realities and my way of going about it would be to find a way to land a punch back on the batter as soon as possible.”

KKR fielding coach did touch on the positives too.

“I wouldn’t say a (bowling) serious concern. I mean, we’ve got five wins out of eight games. So we scored a lot of runs as well and I think bowling across the competition is wouldn’t say a concern but like I said, guys, are taking a long time to figure out a way of stopping this. And it’s something we’ll keep working on. We were not concerned and obviously tried Dushmantha Chameera in place of Mitchell Starc, but bowling with the new ball, bowling with the seam up. Just everything in Kolkata is really tough and we need to find a way to be better” he said.