Munro’s blazing bat demands attention
Colin Munro simply must be the man in most demand. His current form screams: Buy me! He’s arguably the hottest batsman in international Twenty20 cricket right now and deserves to be paid accordingly when the hammer comes down on his name at the IPL auction.
His summer form in the abbreviated game is irresistible. Check his run of scores against the world champion West Indies and respected Pakistan: 53, 66, 104, 49*.
The century made him the first batsmen to score three T20 tons in internationals. There’s also some decent efforts in the ODIs to back up this impressive streak.
What makes Munro such an asset is his bat blazes at the top of the innings. Starts are so important in T20s, whether setting a total or initiating a chase. No one is doing it better right now than the 30-year-old lefthander.
There were fears that the aggressive Black Caps batting might lose some momentum when Brendon McCullum pulled stumps on his international career.
McCullum had set the standards with his trademark approach from ball one.
But in a game where the turnover of players can be alarming, Munro picked up the challenge and it’s now debatable who is the better batsman between he and McCullum.
Munro’s ability to mix traditional shots with innovative ones, play with power or with pushes, makes him a nightmare for opposition bowlers.
He will punish a bad ball accordingly but can also send a good delivery to the boundary with ridiculous ease.
He took a while to settle into the Black Caps but he’s now established himself and his stats are improving with each outing.
In 39 T20s he’s already averaging 34.34 with a strike rate just shy of 160. He’s clubbed 71 fours and 63 sixes in his 996 runs.
Don’t forget he can roll his arm over too. You couldn’t label him a genuine allrounder but skippers can squeeze an over or two of his medium pacers when required.
It’s his bat that does the talking, though, and right now it’s shouting for attention in the richest league in the game.