There is a lack of room to achieve greatness in T20.
Suresh Raina is the only threat to the newest theory this columnist has dreamt up. Raina is the only player to score more than 400 runs in each of the three editions of the Indian Premier League. Last Sunday, he became only the third batsman to score a century in international 20-overs-a-side cricket.
So what is the theory, you might ask, hopefully trying to hide your exasperation. So here it is: Twenty20 cricket will not produce players who can be called “great”. And if this is going to be the most prevalent and dominant format for a long time to come, there will be no more challengers to the pedestals of Sobers, Bradman, Lara, Tendulkar, Richards, Steve Waugh, Holding, Lille, Kumble, etc.
The magic of cricket is as much about the play on the field as the debates and arguments it engenders off it. Runs and centuries are for the lay fan. The proud ones talk in terms of the single most lethal over of fast bowling, the most balls faced without scoring a run, which batsmen have been given out for obstructing the field (only four in international cricket, of which only one was in Tests, did you know?), the most maidens bowled in an innings, and so on.
Statistical hair-splitting is a healthy sport (though it won’t help you keep fit) which cricket nourishes and abets by generating limitless fodder with every match. As the debates grow, so does the stature of the player being discussed, in some cases even after the player is done playing. Sunil Gavaskar is considered a truly great player now, who showed the world that Indian batsmen could stand up to the fiercest fast bowling. In his playing days, he was sometimes derided for being selfish and not always playing in the team’s interest.
Twenty20 is lacking in this department. For one, the game’s shortest format does not allow enough room to pile on the runs or enough overs to plot batsmen’s dismissals without worrying too much about dot balls. The result is that no player is consistently good. Raina stands out even though 400 runs is not too many when a player has the opportunity to play at least 14 matches every IPL season. Irfan Pathan is the only bowler to have taken 15 or more wickets each season.
The lack of room to achieve greatness results in inconsistency. Adam Gilchrist dazzled last year, but was a dud this time. Ditto for Rohit Sharma and many others. The unpredictability afflicts teams as well. So the two bottom finishers of the first year play the final of the second edition.
The Royal Challengers, the fairy tale champion of the first edition, do not go very far in the second and third. Only the Kolkata Knight Riders are consistently bad.
By the way, did you know that Brad Hodge is the leading run scorer in Twenty20 (2,646 runs in 84 matches) and JA Morkel the leading wicket taker (93 wickets in 109 matches)? No? Cool, let’s discuss.
