Since bowlers’ miseries are unlikely to be over in white-ball cricket, we can now only watch and admire as batsmen go on a rampage every time they bat on pitches as flat as the top of Table Mountain in Cape Town.
In less than a month, teams have twice chased down 400-plus scores in One-Day Internationals.
On Tuesday, in the third match of the five-game T20I series between hosts New Zealand and world champions India, openers Abhishek Sharma and teen sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi broke the record for the most runs in the powerplay.
In what was a make-or-break game for the Kiwis in Wellington, Mitchell Santner’s team gave themselves a decent chance of keeping the series alive.
Daryl Mitchell’s unbeaten 89 off 52 balls and key contributions from Finn Allen (40 off 25 balls) and Bevon Jacobs (39 off 23 balls) ensured New Zealand had a competitive total of 198 for three on the board.
But the problem for the home team was a placid wicket. On such surfaces, India’s free-flowing stroke-makers are almost impossible to deal with.
Their technique and temperament were questioned when India slumped to a shock 2-0 defeat to Ireland this year on juicy wickets.
The scrutiny was no less intense when the pitches offered early movement for the pace bowlers in the next T20I series in England, where they suffered an embarrassing 4-0 defeat.
It was their bowlers’ inability to contain batsmen on good wickets that saw the West Indies earn a 2-2 series draw in India recently.
But in New Zealand, the surfaces in the first two matches in Christchurch and the third in Wellington were bowlers’ graveyards.
While the current set of Indian batsmen are too good to be called flat-track bullies, they have mastered the art of exploiting good conditions.
When it comes to clearing the ropes with great hand-eye coordination, the Indians are now in a league of their own.
In the first match, India chased down 225 with two balls to spare before a Tilak Varma masterclass dragged them over the line in the second game, when New Zealand made 180 for five.
But it was on Tuesday that Abhishek Sharma (113 off 38 balls, 9 fours, 11 sixes) and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (45 off 19 balls, 4 fours, 4 sixes) made a mockery of the Kiwi bowling attack as India chased down 198 in just 13.2 overs for an emphatic, series-clinching six-wicket win.
The two openers scored 118 in the powerplay (the first six overs with fielding restrictions), a new record in T20 Internationals.
It took India just 2.2 overs to reach their first 50 and five overs to reach 100.
Sooryavanshi, promoted to the opening slot after playing at number three in the previous game, was at his brilliant best, combining power and timing as he thrashed the bowlers.
But Abhishek did what no other batter had managed to achieve — he outscored the boy wonder in their 133-run partnership, which came in just 7.1 overs.
The Punjab left-hander reached his hundred — his fourth in T20Is — in 35 balls with an exhibition of jaw-dropping shots, especially sixes over the extra-cover boundary.
“Tough to stop those guys. We have seen it in the IPL and witnessed it here tonight,” New Zealand captain Santner admitted.
“Powerplay is such a massive part of this game, and they showed us how to bat. We are just looking for ways to stop them. We now go to Eden Park, which is an even smaller ground, so we need to find ways (of stopping India).”
Indian skipper Shreyas Iyer was lost for words.
“Getting 100 in five overs, we have not seen that before at the international level,” Iyer said.
But what we will continue to see is batters being presented with flat wickets in most limited-overs matches.
And when these new-age Indian players, moulded in the post-IPL era, walk onto these surfaces with a bat in their hands, bowlers can only pray for a miracle.
Source: Khaleej Times