Why Chris Lynn did not live up to his potential in Australian colours
âBrutalisedâ is a word that is thrown around way too much in the sporting world and often misused. But back in 2015, when commentators referred to Chris Lynnâs batting as âbrutalâ, there was nothing inaccurate about the description. If anything, it was, at times, an understatement.
You could take a peak Juan Martin del Potroâs forehand and amplify it by ten times or even, for that matter, take the left foot of Hulk from 2012 and amplify it by a hundred times. Neither of those two would remotely come close to the clean strikes Chris Lynn managed to get out of his bat in the summer of 2015. The connection was so sweet that the sound echoed around a packed Gabba stadium on a Sunday evening and the impact was so strong that the strikes left a permanent mark on the middle of his bat. As a bowler, there was just no escaping the brutality.Â
The 2015/16 season of the Big Bash League was what elevated Chris Lynn to the limelight and many would argue that the devastation he caused that year is still influencing franchises across the world to have him in their side. Batsmen scoring big consistently and thwarting the bowling around was not something new, for Chris Gayle, David Warner and AB de Villiers had already raised the bar to an inviolable level, but the manner in which Lynn managed to do that set him apart. There were no half-measures nor were there any mis-hits; it was an exhibition of sustained, clean, brutal hitting that pulverized the opposition. That six off Shaun Tait where he reduced the âWild Thingâ to a domesticated, inanimate object will still be spoken about in 50 year's time. So how did this monstrous batsman who got satisfaction from nothing but butchering the bowlers go on to play just 20 more matches for the Australian cricket team?
There are several ways to look at Chris Lynnâs failed international career. While some believe he was never good enough for international cricket in the first place, the common notion is that injuries impeded him from hitting the heights he was destined to hit. The truth, however, lies somewhere in between. Was the high standards of international cricket out of Lynnâs reach? Well, he did demolish established international bowlers in the BBL and batsmen with a ceiling way lower than him did make it to the very top, so there is no evidence to suggest that. Did injuries plague his career? Yes, but there were times when he got an extended run in the team whilst being fully fit. What we know is that both Australia and Lynn himself are guilty for his career never taking off.Â
And the foundations for his downfall were laid as early as 2015. Lynnâs career has been a series of missteps and misfortunes, no one can deny or debate that, but it could very well have been a completely different story had Australia put their complete trust in him post BBL 2015/16. After a season where he amassed 378 runs from 8 innings at an average of 54.00 and a ridiculous strike rate of 173, Lynn was picked for just the two T20Is versus India, and controversially left out of the WT20 squad. The reasoning behind the decision was that the side didnât want to risk someone without prior sub-continent experience, but the management contradicted their own statement when they instead took Usman Khawaja on the plane. Post the axing, a string of injuries, including a severe shoulder and neck injury, meant that the Queenslander did not play T20I cricket for Australia for two more years.Â
Would picking Lynn for the WT20 have guaranteed his elevation to the next level and propelled Australia to victory? Perhaps not. But cricketers, moreso batsmen, are like WWE superstars - you need to cash-in on them when they are red-hot and hope that the purple patch helps them to move up the ladder and cement a spot as a main-eventer. Once the momentum is killed, the x-factor is gone and all youâre left with is a magic wand with which you cannot cast spells anymore. By unceremoniously axing Lynn, Australia inadvertently stalled his progress as a batsman or, rather, as the ânext big thingâ.
The second of the three major missteps came a year post his WT20 omission where the team, that was in desperate need of batsmen who could make a difference, decided to resort to the right-hander. That they went to Lynn in the first place was not an issue, but he had, prior to that appearance, played a total of just seven games, all of which were T20 encounters, in the preceding 10 months. What followed next was unsurprising as after a painful, T20-esque 12-ball stay at the middle against a strong Pakistan attack, Lynn did not play ODI cricket again for the next 10 months. Given that was Lynnâs ODI debut, his six over mid-wicket off Hasan Ali on just his eighth delivery rekindled memories of the 2015/16 BBL, but given this was a far more testing, gruelling format, his innings was cut-short soon after.Â
In this particular instance, it is hard and incorrect to fault Lynn for his approach, for that was his designated role in the team - to go hell for leather from the word go. The management, if anything, used him as the rodent to test their medicine on, knowing well that the chances of failing were far greater than that of succeeding. Not only did they throw him into the line of fire knowing he was not fully fit to perform to the best of his abilities, but did so in a format where he hadnât played a game in over 1174 days.Â
These incidents did add up to the reasons as to why his Australian career never took off, but the defining - and most unfortunate - misstep was landed by Lynn himself, back in 2018, when he rushed back from a dislocated shoulder in a desperate attempt to participate in the IPL, having already missed a chunk of the previous two seasons. Lynn dislocated his shoulder on February 21, 2018, against the Kiwis and in under two months, on April 8, he was in action for the Kolkata Knight Riders. In 16 matches that IPL season, Lynn scored 491 runs, but eventually, it ended up doing irreparable and irreversible damage to him. Lynnâs feeble shoulder meant that he had to tone down his approach, meaning power-hitting, a significant part of his identity, was completely wiped out of his game. That the 491 runs came at a strike rate of 130.23 says it all; itâs just not something you would associate Lynn with.Â
Sports has its own way of inflicting irony on the athletes and in Lynnâs case, it was him getting the longest of his international career after he basically had made himself unidentifiable from the batsman that once made bowlers tremble in their run-up. In the 11-match run between October and November 2018 - across ODIs and T20Is - Lynn could only manage a total of 192 runs and eventually, the selectors decided âenough is enoughâ after the ODIs against South Africa. He has since not played international cricket for Australia and has been plying his trade in T20 leagues around the world, still trying to rediscover the beast that he was back in 2015.
Perhaps, everyday, he rues his decision to get back to the field before recovering fully, and maybe even wishes for the injury to have been severe enough to have stopped him from returning to the field. In six monthsâ time, Australia would be hosting its first-ever World T20, but there wonât be the sound of the ball reverberating around the stadium nor will there be bowlers quivering to bowl to a certain No.3. Lynn and Australia can continue pondering over the âwhat could have beenâ factor and well, I suppose, the commentators can go back to misusing the term âbrutalisedâ.Â