IPL 2024 | How slam-bang cricket has elevated runathons to dizzying heights

At various stages on a manic Monday night at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, it appeared as if 300 would be breached in 20-over cricket for only the second time. In all T20s – international, domestic, franchise – only once has a team topped 300, when Nepal hammered 314 for three against Mongolia at the Asian Games last year.

Sunrisers Hyderabad, who had blasted their way to an IPL record 277 for three against Mumbai Indians on March 24, were at it again on April 15, threatening the safety of a full house at the Chinnaswamy as they rained 22 sixes, one of which sailed out of the ground. In the end, SRH only made 287 for three. Only? Welcome to the new, exciting world of T20 cricket where no score is safe, where sky is literally the limit, where it’s only a matter of time before Nepal have company in the 300-run club.

Not one-off anymore

Fanciful? Certainly not. MI had replied to SRH’s 277 with 246 for five, at various stages threatening to match a required rate of nearly 14 an over from the get-go. RCB went many better, posting the highest second-innings total in T20 history with 262 for seven, going down by a mere 25 runs after being asked to score at nearly 14.5 runs per over from their very first ball. Where are we headed?

These tall scores, especially in the IPL, are unlikely to be isolated, one-off happenings anymore. And there is a compelling reason for that – the introduction at the beginning of IPL 2023 of the Impact Player, an exciting addition that, all other things being equal, might pervade the international firmament too in time to come.

The Impact Player rule allows teams the luxury of a 12th option that can come into the game at any stage as a fresh induction. The impact sub can replace a bowler who has completed his full quota and still go on to bowl his four overs. Or, conversely, he can come in for a batsman who has already been dismissed and go about his business in unfettered fashion. At a time when pitches are getting flatter, boundaries smaller, bats better and batsmen stronger and more skilled, six-hitting has been elevated to an art form. It’s singularly unfair on the bowlers, of course, but hey, who cares? T20 cricket is all about the ball sailing into the stands and beyond because, after all, that’s what the fans come to see.

Fearlessness on display

Low-scoring matches have become passe, an occasional novelty but certainly largely unwelcome from a paying spectator perspective. Indeed, thousands stream away from stadiums feeling short-changed if they have witnessed a low-scoring thriller; they’d rather have a runathon, desperately flailing in the stands to wrap their hands around a six that has clattered off Andre Russell’s bat. Or Dinesh Karthik’s.

In the first season with the Impact Player option in play, 35 scores of more than 200 were recorded in the last IPL in 74 matches, 12 of them by the team chasing. In seven instances, sides overhauled more than 200 successfully even though they were still coming to grips with how and whom to use as the impact sub. This year, in a mere 30 games, 200 has been toppled 12 times, though only one of five chasing sides that have gone past that mark has ended up on the winning side. That will change in the next six weeks, don’t worry about it.

It's only in the last season and a half that the ‘fearlessness’ that was positioned as the calling card of the 20-over game has started to manifest itself in the IPL. Strike-rates of 135 or 140 are considered no more than middling – indeed, Virat Kohli was panned for scoring at 156 and Rohit Sharma at 166 because their hundreds came in losing causes. The optimisation of the first six overs has been lent a new dimension by the SRH opening combine of Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head, by Kolkata Knight Riders’ Phil Salt and Sunil Narine, by MI’s Rohit and Ishan Kishan. They aren’t content with being 46 without loss in the first six overs; the target is now at least 65 and, along the way, if a wicket or two is surrendered, so be it because the Impact Player can always slot in and do his thing.

Huge pressure on bowlers

All this has combined to increase the already humongous pressure on bowlers, reduced to hapless ball-deliverers who develop cricks in their necks as they look over their backs to see how deep into the stands the ball has been deposited. To watch such accomplished and established stars like Lockie Ferguson and Reece Topley, Pat Cummins and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, being treated with casual disdain was a chastening experience. The pummeling they took also put the exploits of Jasprit Bumrah in this competition in perspective but then again, how many bowlers have as much skill and control over their craft as the freak from Gujarat?

“(Our total) needs a three in front of it, does it now?” guffawed Travis Head, whose 39-ball century was the cornerstone of SRH’s monumental 287, as he referenced the magical 300. Head’s was the fourth fastest IPL ton ever, marked by breathtaking ball-striking but without unnecessary risk, a potential oxymoron only if one isn’t sure of what one is doing. “It’s proper batting. We’ve wanted to be exciting the whole time, and we’ve wanted to take the game on. Pat (Cummins, the captain) and then Dan (Vettori, the head coach) have put pressure on the batting line-up to make sure we try and maximise the Powerplay and then keep going.”

None of this will be music to the ears of the bowling groups, who might consider forming a union to protest against the merciless treatment at the hands of the men with the sticks that confront them from 22 yards. They might also be tempted to seek alternative employment because it’s no fun being a bowler these days in 20-over cricket, and certainly not in the IPL where the class difference is obvious and pronounced, with a concerted effort to further extend the gap between the haves (batsmen) and the have-nots.

Tall scores, frantic chases, humongous sixes and crass power – that will continue to be the feature (and future) of 20-over cricket. A trend-setter in many ways, the IPL has gifted the batting world the Impact Player. How long before the other influential powers follow suit and elevate runathons to even dizzier heights?