Overseas big hitters need to learn from Gayle

Apart from the thrilling games and the tight finishes, there are two main observations I have to make on the IPL so far.

One, the general quality of seam bowling has not been great and we have seen very few game- changers in this category.

Second, overseas batsmen coming with massive reputations of being big hitters from their performances in the leagues around the world are being neutralised by spin.

If this trend continues, team owners will think twice before betting big on the foreign big hitters who make a name for themselves in the Big Bash etc, for this is the Indian Premier League and spin will be a major part of it.

Also the IPL is played in April and May, so along with the rest of the country pitches tend to get dry too giving more ammunition to the spinners.

My piece of advice to all the Chris Lynns, D’arcy Shorts and Carlos Brathwaites of the world — practice playing spin better to have long IPL careers.

Despite being in the twilight of his career we have seen the impact Chris Gayle can still make.

Why? Because unlike most other foreign big hitters, Gayle cannot be subdued by spin. Rashid Khan of SRH could not come on and stifle Gayle, if at all, Gayle put his innings into the next gear and galloped towards his hundred after that.

Even in Jaipur, on a pitch that showed no sign of being spin friendly, KKR played three spinners against RR, this was mainly to diffuse the overseas power hitters, Ben Stokes and D’arcy Short.

As for seam, perhaps the quality is down partly because the world-class seamers are missing due to injury, Kagiso Rabada and Mitchell Starc to name a couple.

But when you are watching the seamers operate, you see most of them bowl with a defensive mindset, the primary thought is to not get hit, which is understandable but I was amazed to see the same approach while bowling to Sunil Narine.

Sunil Narine is a No 9 batsman otherwise, but he gets far too much respect only because he throws his bat around without a care in the world.

Trent Boult of DD has set a good example for the rest of his clan here.

He still prefers to bowl length with the seam up, with the new ball his focus is on getting the ball to move in the air and off the pitch.

The ball he bowled to get Ben Stokes out is one of the highlights of the tournament for me.

Rest have made the slower ball the stock ball.

Yes it’s not a variation anymore it’s the norm, the slower ball. Surely the ‘slow’ ball can’t be the main weapon of the ‘fast’ bowlers.