THE slaughter of the white ball under lights in the Indian Premier League (IPL) is now becoming a new normal. Scores of over 200 seem par for the course and even bigger totals are in danger of getting overhauled as shown by Punjab Kings against Kolkata Knight Riders the other day. A few days ago, Marcus Stoinis had administered the same dose to Chennai Super Kings by chasing down a stiff 200+ target. The change in scoring pattern now begs several questions about the pitches, about the bowlers’ skills, about the extraordinary abilities of batters, and also about the evolution of the shortest format of the game. Scoring over 10 runs per over in Twenty20 cricket was an event till this edition of the IPL made it a routine affair, so to say. The mark was breached in games when someone produced exceptional strokeplay to anchor the innings. Not that it was not impossible for teams to breach the 200-run mark but doing it consistently underscores the strategic change teams have adopted while setting targets. Sunrisers Hyderabad have been at the forefront of knocking down the 200-run hurdle regularly in this IPL.

 

They have done it against some good bowling units which again emphasises a strategic approach towards taking down opposition bowlers. Other teams, too, seem to have joined the race by taking similar routes right from the start. There is a growing dislike for singles and twos as batsman after batsman are focusing on shredding the leather with brute power or innovative shots. This change in strategy has pushed the pressure on the bowlers who have quickly opted for dot balls instead of wicket-taking deliveries. Whether the carnage becomes an inherent quality of every batsman will be keenly watched in the coming years. Then again, each format of the game has evolved with time and the planners of the game, too, gave liberal advantages to the batsmen. The bowlers, especially in Twenty20 cricket, have been literally left at the mercy of the batsmen who are now equipped with high-end bats full of extraordinary power in the wood.

 

Even a forward defensive lunge can race to the boundary these days. It is surely a combination of a batsman’s skill and his bat’s ability to produce bigger thrust. A few decades ago, the One-Dayers also went through a similar phase when percentage scoring was steadily replaced by explosive strokes to achieve higher run-rate. The Channel 9 footage of Benson & Hedges cricket in the 80s, where four runs an over would be considered attacking batting, are now looking awfully archaic. A big shift came in the 1992 World Cup and the tempo has only risen to new heights in aggressive batting. A defendable score in ODI cricket is now only above 300. The challenge in T20 is now for the bowlers to devise their own ways to at least contain scoring. For, the bat is bound to dominate the white ball, any day.