Power-hitters key as Pakistan blaze through
Bus, dot ball nahi khelo (Just don’t play dot balls),” Shoaib Malik spells out his simple power-hitting mantra for death overs. Dot balls are an antithesis to everything that T20 cricket stands for. In a format where boundaries are the buzzword, and ones and twos avoidable, dots are entirely dispensable. Malik was speaking to Pakistan captain Babar Azam in a PCB interview, basking in glory after hitting his team’s fastest ever T20I 50, off 18 balls, in their World Cup game against Scotland on Sunday.
When Malik came to bat at the end of the 15th over, his team was on 112/3. His fireworks propelled Pakistan to 189, a total beyond their opponents’ reach. This has pretty much been Pakistan’s blueprint in their unbeaten run at the World Cup so far. Pakistan don’t just have one, but three power-hitters – the experienced Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, and their shiniest weapon, Asif Ali.
Power-hitting is a tough gig in T20s. An advanced version of what limited overs’ batters have been trained to do in ODI cricket in the death overs, which stretch up to 10-15 overs based on the team’s strategy. In the 20-over format, slog overs range between overs 16-20. With no time to waste, it’s a one-on-one battle against the bowler. “If your partner is set, you take his feedback on which areas to target. Bus, dot ball nahi kheley,” Malik said. “When last 4-5 overs are left, you should keep rotating the strike. All you need is one big over between overs 18-20. Then you can easily get 45-50 runs in the last four.”
Malik, 39, wasn’t named in Pakistan’s original squad for the T20 World Cup. Despite a series of low scores, he was brought in as a late replacement for Sohaib Maqsood for his experience. He was part of the Pakistan side that finished runners-up to India at the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007. In the years that followed, he changed his game sufficiently, mastering the art of late power-hitting, and taking spin to the cleaners. He’s also been the guiding force to the batsmen.
“When I walked out to bat against Afghanistan and shook hands with Shoaib bhai (Malik) at the crease, he said, ‘Today is your day, do what you feel like. But try to hit straight, not anywhere else.’ That’s what I was thinking as well because the ball was keeping low. But when he said that, the mind became clearer,” Asif Ali had said after his winning knock. Against Afghanistan, Pakistan needed 24 in two overs. Ali smashed four straight sixes in the 18th to seal the deal. Malik and Ali had taken their team to safety before time, quite like in the game against New Zealand where they joined forces with Pakistan requiring 48 runs in 31 balls. Against Namibia, the 41-year-old Hafeez, in the team for this specialist role, came to the party with his 16-ball 32 to lift Pakistan’s total to 189.
None of the three is topping the charts in the run-scoring list. But all three of them, one followed by the other — Ali (247.83), Malik (186.79), and Hafeez (164.71)— have the best strike rates in the World Cup so far.
The highest scorer has been Pakistan skipper Babar Azam, with his opening partner Mohammed Rizwan at
No 5. Neither has been in a hurry to win matches in the powerplay or bat at an extravagant strike rate. In fact, their approach has been most conservative compared to other semi-finalists. But the duo has been able to shift gears, and importantly, wait for the moment to do so, with the knowledge that they have three powerful strikers waiting in the dug-out, each capable of a blitz towards the end.