Batsmen sounding knell for death-over bowlers in IPL
With team scores going up and up like day temperature in summer, death-over cricket has changed this Indian Premier League (IPL).
Teams are taking the game deep, calmly chasing down 60-70 in the last five. The new batting mantra is to wait and wait before launching the late assault. As overs run out, bowlers are under more pressure than batsmen.
Batsmen are bossing the closing stages of games, chasing down stiff targets and mercilessly clubbing bowlers. This has caused the decline, some say demise, of the specialist death bowler.
Nowadays, batsmen are so fearless they emerge from the dressing room wired to have a go. Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Andre Russell muscle balls out of the park and it matters little if it is the initial powerplay or the death overs. These giant-sized giant hitters cause carnage. Russell smashed Mohammed Shami for 6 sixes in 9 balls, and Bravo hit 7 from 30 balls against MI.
BOWLERS WIN SOME
Yet, for all this big hitting, sometimes bowlers win matches. When RR played DD in a rain-hit game, Dhawal Kulkarni sent down an over that went for just four. Dhawal’s over was bowled when Royals were defending 71 from 6 overs. Those six balls were worth two points.
But other times one over can gift the game away, as Vinay Kumar found out twice in two games. Till yesterday, he was respected for his skills in the end but sadly those happy days have passed. This year, he conceded 64 from 4 overs bowled at the death.
Vinay Kumar hasn’t gone from good to bad, just that T20 has changed. Batting in the last few overs has evolved, batsmen are unafraid to swing hard and run rates have picked up. Csk/dhoni bludgeoned almost 100 from the last 7 against RCB, and the other day Delhi plundered 76 from KKR’S last 4!
When teams top 200 with ease, everyone gets thrashed and death experts look less than lethal. Bhuvneshwar (swing king) has escaped punishment, but Jasprit Bumrah (yorker expert) is not the same force and Jaydev Unadkat (slow ball champ) is yet to make an impact.
KAUL IMPRESSIVE
Not all bowlers though are scarred by the late order surge by aggressive batsmen. Among Indians, Siddarth Kaul has stood up to pressure bowling an impressive mix of knuckle balls and yorkers. Overseas experts Andrew Tye, Dwayne Bravo and Jofra Archer have had good games, but the ball is not running for others this IPL season.
Despite 200-plus scores, and batsmen being on fire, it’s not as if bowlers have surrendered and retreated to their dugouts. The Sunrisers are scripting a new T20 narrative, failing consistently with the bat but defending small totals. Their bowling unit has won them three games in a row.
Fielding captains are using 12 overs of spin as an attacking option and leg-break mystery bowlers are in fashion. Rashid Khan the rock star bowled 18 dots against MI. He is difficult to pick, and seeing him on the run up, batsmen think survival not aggression.