IPL 2019 | T20 teams sticking with hit-and-miss cricketers a byproduct of formatâs allowance
Manoj Tiwary is a fine cricketer in all three formats of the game. He had scored a century in his last international match and always a very handy cricketer in the IPL while representing Delhi Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rising Pune Supergiant, amassing runs at 28.73.
However, when on a winter afternoon in December 2018, some of India's richest businessmen and biggest Bollywood stars lined up to buy players for the 12th edition of the IPL, he found no takers. Of course, it made him wonder about his luck and a post on Twitter came up, âWondering wat (what-sic) went wrong on my part after getting Man of the Match award wen (when-sic) I scored a hundred 4 (for-sic) my country and got dropped for the next 14 games on a (the-sic) trot ?? Looking at d (the-sic) awards which I received during 2017 IPL season, wondering
Naturally, he had his reasons to be disappointed after having a decent domestic season last year. From a seasonal and the gameâs regular evolution stand-point, though, it can easily be argued that this is how it works in the sportâs newest entrant and at times, it is very hard to get a grasp of what lies in the stores for cricketers in the franchise T20 cricket.
For the first five to six years of T20âs invention, it was widely considered as a hit or miss game, with very few skippers and coaches investing themselves in the actual process of understanding the subtle dynamics of the team formation. With the advent of freelance cricketers and wide usage of data analytics, the gameâs pre-condition has changed dramatically to allow the teams to have a proper set of plans and the players like Jaydev Unadkat and Dinesh Karthik continue to garner huge bids from the teams. It tells something about the changing mindset of the men and women responsible behind the team formation as much as it does about the format itself.
When Yuvraj Singh made Wankhede dance to his tunes with a stunning 53 runs off 35 balls against Delhi Capitals on Sunday, everyone was surprised. After all, this was a player, who is no more a force in domestic cricket even and went unsold twice before being snapped up by Mumbai Indians tactfully, that was slaying the arena like he hasnât lost his touch a bit. However, it would have hardly surprised the Mumbai franchise.
 © IPLSample this. For almost one and half year during late 2015 to early 2017, Chris Gayle was in a terrible run of form, scoring just 329 runs at an average of 19.35 and a strike rate of 116.25 in three different franchise tournaments - Caribbean Premier League, Big Bash League, and Pakistan Super League. The World T20 in India in March 2016 wasnât any good either in which for the burly West Indian failed to go past the 10-run mark even once unti the Super-10 phase. However, in the Super 10 game against England, he struck a nonchalant century to guide the team single-handedly and moved his average from 3.33 to 37.66. But most importantly, he was the main architect of a win and the job is done. Because the game doesnât demand only consistency rather a collective approach towards impact which Gayle provides in abundance and more than anyone else, Royal Challengers Bangalore understood clearly.
In T20 cricket, you field almost the same combination one does in a 50-over match - either a 6-5 or a 7-4 one. With either six or seven players available to bat for just a period of 20 overs, the teams have the chance to carry baggage on their shoulders, and if that particular guy comes good in one out of four matches to take the team down the line single-handedly, the purpose is fulfilled. In 2011, Kolkata Knight Riders invested in Yusuf Pathan despite the eldest of Pathan brothers had a terrible 2011 World Cup and the subsequent tour of the West Indies, and didnât ask him to bowl as much as he did for the Indian team. They instead relied on him to give those few matches where he will don the same role as Andre Russell carried out in the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday.Â
While that ultimately reaped dividends in the T20 league, the role of impact players also resulted in more wins because they take less time to get their head in. In the IPL over the years, a Virat Kohli half-century helped RCB win 62% of the matches while a Gayle fifty takes the team down the line 68% of the matches. For Kieron Pollard, three out of four half-centuries result in a Mumbai Indians victory, which is a staggering 75%. Of course, one can point out the fact that these numbers are not a proper representation of the impact because Kohli and Gayle are primarily top-order batsmen and their half-centuries are likely to have converted into lesser wins than Kieron Pollard who bats below No.5 position and is more likely to lead the team to win if he scores a fifty. However, the impact that he adds - which is clearly evident on Mumbai Indians' championship run in 2013, 2015, and 2017 where he scored three, two, three fifties, which is an aggregate of eight fifties from the total 13 fifties he had scored in his 10-year-long IPL career.Â
With Gayle finding a sudden second-wind to his batting last year despite being an extra in the squad and Pollard continually making a stubborn change to his push each and every time Mumbai Indians needed him to do, one thing has been established that there is nothing called âcertaintyâ in T20 cricket. Also considering the fact that there have been a cocktail of unprecedented money and more matches thanks to the rapid growth of T20 teams around the world, there has been elevated importance for strategy and data. That also resulted in the growing importance of hit-and-miss cricketers, which say, a decade ago, wouldnât have been as demanding as they are now.Â
Simultaneously, the insurance of other floaters in the side allows the teams to be more flexible in their approach and when a player like Pollard can win them few matches single-handedly, nevermind other failures, he is still going to get a game ahead of an Ishan Kishan. So Yuvraj can breathe easy and focus on getting things right while ensuring that he gets those five innings right. Rest will fall in place automatically.