This season of the IPL has been marked by a new trend which may please the uninitiated but it may harm cricket in the long run. The batters are going on a rampage at the cost of hapless bowlers. The Hyderabad based Sunrisers have been creating new records thanks to some explosive batting by its top ranked batsmen.
In the match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Lucknow SuperGiants, Abhishek Sharma scored 75 from 28 balls and his partner Travis Head slammed 89 from 30 balls. It was an unbelievable blitzkrieg. Other teams have not been far behind. A target of 250 no longer looks difficult. Batters are accomplishing insane feats that could not have been imagined earlier.
But now voices are being raised that the situation has become too favourable for the batsmen and something should be done to provide a more level playing field for the bowlers. Tailor-made pitches, smaller boundaries, and the impact player rule have made bowlers an endangered species in the IPL.
Ashwin wants parity restored
India’s best spinner Ravi Ashwin was among the first to raise his voice against the engineered domination of the bat over the ball. He wants the balance to be restored and allow bowlers to show their talent. With the boundaries often less than 60 metres away, even a mistimed hit can carry the ball over the line for a six. Whereas in the days gone by, such shots would have resulted in a catch.
“The advertisements boards on the boundaries have reduced the distance from the batter to the boundary. All a batter has to do is hit the ball up and it will cross the line,” said Ashwin. As a joke he added that if he spat out his chewing gum then that too would cross the boundary line like a six hit.
Opinion of Muralitharan
Spin bowlers have suffered even more than the pacers. Barring Yuzi Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav, most other bowlers have been unable to maintain the reputation that they had. One of the greatest spin bowlers of cricket, Muttiah Muralitharan, has suggested a solution to the problem.
Murali feels that if spin bowlers focus on the primary task of turning the ball then the batsmen will be less successful. “The problem arises because most of the spinners playing here are not turning the ball. They are focused on a defensive line and a containment policy. This will not work. Bowlers must get into the attack mode immediately,” said Murali in an interview recently.
His opinion is that whenever a batter attacks a spinner, the bowler must strike back instead of defending. Attack is the best form of defense, feels Murali. The Sri Lankan explained that the batters find it easier to hit if the ball is straight. But if the bowler can make it turn in unexpected directions, it is the batsman who will be foxed.
One can see the validity of Murali’s argument but the question that arises is how many bowlers can make the ball turn on an unhelpful track? Murali himself was a prodigious turner of the ball and could turn it square on a placid pitch. But many bowlers cannot bowl at that level.
So what is the solution?
Perhaps one or two methods should be tried out as an experiment. For one thing, the powerplay overs can be reduced even further or completely abolished for T20 matches. It would give bowlers some breathing space and time to adjust their line and length. Also, the impact player rule should be thrown into the garbage can. These changes may give bowlers some motivation to keep fighting.
But even if these rules are not changed, Murali is still optimistic that bowlers will themselves find a way out of this predicament. He feels that they will learn harsh lessons but will finally surmount the obstacles that they are facing in the IPL 2024 and come back stronger in the next edition.
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