The bowlers are making a statement in the IPL – and how!

The myth that Twenty20 is a batsmen’s game has been exploded.

By Vishal Chandan

Twenty20 is perceived as a batsmen’s game since its very beginning. People throng the stadiums to watch the sky-scraping sixes and blazing boundaries. Over the years, Twenty20 has got more views than any other format due its fast-paced nature and an action-packed finish within a matter of hours. The Indian Premier League (IPL) has even drawn the Indian women out of their drawing rooms and enjoy as much as the men in at the scene of action.

But the passage of time has made one thing pretty clear: The myth that Twenty20 is a batsmen’s game has been exploded. The bowlers have certainly made their presence felt by adapting to the most abbreviated forms of all cricket played. We’re just into the 56th game or so and the highest wicket taker has already taken 27 wickets in his kitty. Whereas, in the previous editions, where the number of matches played were 60 or around itself, the highest wicket-takers didn’t cross the 23-wicket mark. Lasith Malinga, the fierce yorker-bowling machine and a T20 specialist bowler, has proved that a bowler can indeed inflict the fear in batsmen if he has the right arsenal in his armory.

IPL 2011 has even seen a number of low-scoring matches: Mumbai falling over to its all- time low score, Punjab faltering and many other teams go haywire over and over again. Is the domination of ball over bat due to the nature of the pitch or the capabilities of the bowlers?

Whatever the case may be, it’s has led to a diminishing interest among the fans. Where people were looking for the excitement of the huge sixes, they couldn’t find them as much as they had expected. And this despite Chris Gayle raising the bars and setting stadiums ablaze with his pyrotechnics.

Clearly there is a surfeit of cricket. And with the introduction of Sri Lankan Premier League, West Indian Premier League, South Africa planning one, Australia and England having their own Twenty20 domestic season, the IPL viewership is going to be impacted.

People are more kicked-up watch their country sweating it out to win the World Cup than watching two clubs with players drawn from different countries. I’m surely not opposing IPL, but I would much rather watch more India play Pakistan or England clash against Australia rather getting lost in more clubs auctioning players all over the world.

(Vishal Chandan, an 18 year old management student, has been a passionate cricket fan for years. He has an incredible eye for cricket and is trying to showcase his talent through writing)

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