PBKS vs GT: In this run-fest, can bowlers claw back?
IPL's T20 cricket has become a batter's paradise, with 200 not even a par total. Coaches Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden acknowledge the Impact Player rule has amplified batting power, shrinking bowlers' margin for error. They suggest old-fashioned, precise bowling variations like wide yorkers and slower offcutters are key to survival.
NEW CHANDIGARH: There is a particular sound that has come to define the IPL evening these days — not the applause of a boundary, but the thud of a ball disappearing several rows back, followed by a collective murmur that asks: How far did that go? In this version of T20 cricket, now 200 is not even a par total. For the bowlers, increasingly in the IPL, it feels like survival rather than contest.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden, two men who spent much of their careers making bowlers’ lives miserable, now sit in IPL dugouts as coaches and watch their bowlers suffer.
The IPL, always a batter’s playground, has leaned into excess nowadays. The Impact Player rule, Punjab Kings’ Ponting suggested, hasn’t just deepened batting line-ups; it has liberated them. “It’s a really hard thing for the bowlers now,” Ponting said.
“The modern T20 batter… they’re big, strong athletes. The bowler has to miss by a couple of inches on line or on length, and they pay the penalty. The ball is going over the fence and it’s going a long way over.