Heavy hitting is what people seem to want so long as it is competitive, says Deep Dasgupta
Another night it could have been a match-winning performance. On Friday, amid the mayhem of 42 sixes and 37 fours, the bowling effort became a footnote. Fits why Ryan ten Doeschate said anti-skill bowling could be the future in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Punjab Kings’ Jonny Bairstow plays a shot against Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League 2024, at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Friday (ANI)
In a match where 523 runs were scored – a record for Eden Gardens – in the most successful T20 run chase ever, Sunil Narine bowled 12 dot balls in a 24-ball spell. This, at a time when the dot-ball percentage per innings has shrunk to 31.3, the lowest ever in IPL, as per howindialives.com. Narine conceded 24 runs and took the wicket of Rilee Rossouw with one that pitched wide and spun away leading to the batter getting more height than distance.
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Narine had one six hit off him in a match where a T20 record for over-boundaries was set. No one had fewer dots, only Arshdeep Singh had double-digit deliveries (10) off which no run was scored, among the 13 across both teams who had bowled in the game. Narine had also leaked the least any bowler had. Add to that a 32-ball 71 and a run-out with a direct hit and on most nights it would have fetched Narine the Player-of-the-Match award.
Teeing off
He didn’t get it because after starting slowly, Jonny Bairstow channelled his inner Bryson DeChambeau to score 108 off 48 balls and turn the chase into a cruise; Punjab Kings reaching the target of 262 with eight balls to spare. Cutting across opposition lines, batters swung arms like they were at a driving range but it was Bairstow who was the life and soul of this tee party.
“The way batting is going across the competition, it never looks like they are taking a step back. It is a pretty new phenomenon,” said Ten Doeschate, KKR’s assistant coach, after the sobering eight-wicket defeat. It is what people seem to want, said Deep Dasgupta. “I have done a bit of asking around and the sense I got is that people like it so long as it is competitive, in the sense that both teams are doing it,” said the former India wicket-keeper and IPL commentator.
Dasgupta and Ten Doeschate agreed that the impact substitute has increased teams’ appetite for risks. The “extra batter in the shed” is helping teams go “hard” throughout the innings, said Ten Doeschate.
“The game’s almost unrecognisable from 10 years ago when we used to play. Then, if you got 160 you felt like packing your bags because you felt you had won the game. Now you need 160 before the 13th over to be in with a chance to get a big score.” And though the average score in both innings has reached never-before highs of 190 and 177 in 2024, Ten Doeschate said it was difficult to fathom a team overhauling a score of 261/6.
“Let’s not make Friday’s game the benchmark. That was a combination of some poor bowling and extraordinary batting. There have been one-dayers where teams have scored 400 but that is still not normal, is it?” said Dasgupta.
Bat-ball balance
But when both teams score over 200 for the fifth time halfway into a season, what does it mean for what is supposed to be a contest between bat and ball?
“I don’t think it augurs well for the contest between bat and ball,” said Ten Doeschate, who won two IPL titles during five seasons with KKR from 2011. “It’s all in the batters’ favour… Bowling with the new ball, bowling seam, everything in Kolkata is really tough. We need to find a way.”
One that could be a shift from conventional T20 wisdom of the best dot ball being the one that fetched a wicket. “You almost want to bowl anti-skill, I think,” said Ten Doeschate. For him that means going short and wide, not bowling two similar deliveries and maybe not using the same bowlers “unless they really have a grip on the game.” Dragging guys wide and then going straight too could be an option, he said.
“You almost need to catch guys off-guard a little like Sam Curran caught Phil Salt, dragging him wide and then firing one at leg-stump.”
Curran going for 60 in four overs with five sixes and five fours hit off him shows how slim the margin for error is. Before he surprised Salt with pace, Curran went full once and wide another time. Both were hit for sixes.
Accepting that KKR could have “shut down one side better”, Ten Doeschate said: “There are two ways you can look at this. You can step back and say it is unfair (on bowlers) or you can say we are going to find a way to be the point of difference with other teams. Yes, it is going to be tough, but you have got to find innovative ways for the next four weeks.”
And it will change after that, said Dasgupta. “Don’t expect such scores in the World Cup where the wickets are likely to be different. Also, not all teams have a good No.7 or No.8 and the absence of impact substitutions will mean a different approach to the innings.”
