India in danger of getting muscled out
The theory I am going to present is not going to paint the future of India’s T20 cricket in laudatory terms. On the contrary, I fear the advent of T20 cricket and the primacy it places on brute power more than sweet timing, could well spell doom for India’s prospects in this format. It could well be the astro-turf moment for Indian cricket.
In hockey, India, the art-full dodgers, skillful dribblers of the ball, were reduced to playing catchup once astro-turf was introduced. This comparison with the India cricket team may not be fair, as India have never dominated the cricket world, like they once did in hockey, but has been introduced for its shock value so that the point I am making has an immediate impact.
The reasoning I present here has nothing to do with criticism of the Indian Premier League, nor of the format itself.
Just make a random survey of the best T20 players of the world and players who may not have made huge runs but impacted the results, the images that surface would be of men with rippling muscles, broad shoulders, and big frames with the power to smash the ball to smithereens or to send it soaring into the orbit. The Gayles, Sammys, Brathwaites, Dhonis, Warners, Watsons, Millers and Jasons outnumber the Kohlis, De Villiers, Roots of the T20 world.
Where do West Indies get their strength from? Not just from Gayle at the top, but the unending number of late order and even the tail which is populated with massive hitters of such brute power that no chase, howsoever impossible it may appear, is beyond them.
Most teams with lesser abilities have players at the top and more importantly in the lower order who can take the game away in a matter of a few balls with the power and force of their hitting, which has more to do with strength than skill and timing alone.
A Kohli can compensate for his lack of big-hitting with great timing, ability to pierce the gaps in the field at will, aided by a reservoir of speed and stamina which would do a sprinter proud. But not everyone is blessed with a combination of these skills. The India team has always relied on batsmen with subtle skills of perfect timing and wristy stroke-play and not on players who have the training and build of a boxer. They lack players and all-rounders who can transform the game, especially in the end overs where a few massive hits in one over can turn the game upside down.
It might be difficult for India to find these ‘range-hitters’, given that an average player is neither big built, nor does he rely on brute force to strike the ball, as is evident from the ongoing IPL which showcases the best India has to offer.
Unless things change in future, a probability given that this format is still evolving, there is a reason to fear that India could be muscled out in T20 cricket.