3 weeks ago
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Stripped to its basics, T20 batting is essentially about hitting fours and sixes. You can pinch quick singles to minimise dot balls and convert ones into twos, but the team that hits more fours and sixes generally tends to win more matches in the shortest format.
Rajasthan Royals' Yashasvi Jaiswal plays a shot during the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 cricket match between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals(AFP) As we brace for a non-stop dose of T20 cricket over the next three months – the IPL has just begun and the T20 World Cup will follow in June – it is this skill to bludgeon the ball into and beyond the boundary that should be in sharp focus. Remember that India’s last two semi-final defeats in the T20 World Cup – against West Indies and England in 2016 and 2022 respectively – have been a case of them being outmuscled with the bat.
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So, who are the Indian players best equipped to find the boundary consistently?
As per CricViz data since IPL 2022, the batter leading the way is Rajasthan Royals’ Yashasvi Jaiswal. In the 601 deliveries that the 22-year-old has faced for 922 runs across 27 matches, he has hit 116 fours and 37 sixes, resulting in an excellent boundary percentage of 25.45. Only Australia’s Glenn Maxwell – among batters with a minimum of 500 runs – has a higher frequency at 26%.
Jaiswal doesn’t immediately come across as a belligerent striker of the ball. But since enjoying a bumper IPL 2023 where he outperformed opening partner and England white-ball captain Jos Buttler, he has embellished his reputation as an explosive batter capable of blazing away from the outset. A strike rate of 152.28 in the powerplay establishes that. And once he gets that head start, the middle overs don’t bog him down either. While Jaiswal’s percentage of fours is among the best at 19.3%, he is also fairly adept at clearing the boundary. That came to light in India’s recent Test series versus England as Jaiswal’s 712 runs included a record 26 sixes.
It is no surprise that Suryakumar Yadav is a close second in the propensity to hit boundaries – 24.35% of the 542 balls he has faced have been hammered for either a four or six. He is yet to get back into competitive action after a hernia operation, and Mumbai Indians are palpably missing the services of the world’s top-ranked T20 batter. Nowhere was it starker than in the previous game against Rajasthan Royals where a defeat was all but certain once they stumbled to 20/4 within four overs.
The balance may be inherently tilted towards batters in this format, but it is still important to have shots covering the 360-degree range for pressure to not build. This is where Suryakumar stands out particularly among Indian players, with his trademark flicks and paddles behind the wicket fetching a high percentage of runs.
Though Dinesh Karthik’s international career (his boundary percentage is 23.8%) is probably behind him, the presence of Jitesh Sharma, Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma among the most frequent boundary-hitters may make for interesting discussion in the coming weeks. Jitesh and Samson were part of India’s last T20 series against Afghanistan as wicketkeeper-batters. Abhishek, meanwhile, is a young left-hand batter whose T20 stock seems to be rising. A week ago, he hit an astounding 63 off 23 balls, with three fours and seven sixes, as SRH plundered 277 against Mumbai Indians.
Also pertinent are the impressive numbers of Rinku Singh and Shivam Dube, both of whom are strong candidates for the T20 World Cup. While Rinku has hit 19.69% of his deliveries for boundaries, the corresponding figure for Dube is only slightly lower at 18.95. Dube’s 57 sixes in 517 balls give him a six-hitting percentage of 11.03, the best among Indians over the past three seasons. If the pitches in the Caribbean are slow as expected, Dube’s capacity to clear the fence in the middle overs is a trait meriting serious consideration.
What about Rohit and Virat?
Rohit Sharma may not have been a prolific scorer for MI over the past three seasons with only 669 runs in 33 matches at an average of 20.27. But if it’s about attacking the bowlers and taking the game away on a particular day, the Indian captain has it in him to make a difference – he has hit over 20% of his deliveries since IPL 2022 for boundaries. When he made an unbeaten 121 off 69 balls against Afghanistan in January, the 36-year-old hit 11 fours and eight sixes, accounting for 92 runs – a whopping 76% -- in boundaries. With the uncertainty over his place in India’s team for the T20 World Cup put to rest, Rohit will hope to provide a similar impact in the US and Caribbean.
If there’s more than one way to skin a cat even in T20s, Virat Kohli is an example of a batter who isn’t a ferocious boundary-hitter. An average of 51.75 and a strike rate of 138.15 after 117 T20Is point to his pedigree, but 114 fours and 32 sixes in 894 balls since 2022 imply that he’s only hitting 16.33% of the deliveries faced for boundaries. As the shortest format continues to evolve and embolden batters to challenge limits, will his method be effective enough as India aim to win the T20 World Cup? Let’s wait and watch.
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