A swish of the bat, a mishit or an edge, yet the ball still sails over the boundary rope for yet another six, how is that fair?
Take nothing away from Chris Gayle, whose remarkable unbeaten 170 for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL against the Pune Warriors truly was a sight to behold, but we have now reached the stage where cricket bats are potentially that good, that it is to the detriment to the game.
Gayle batted beautifully, reaching a century in a record 30 balls, and displaying the prowess and power of an individual who is at the very top of his game. Yet sometimes you just feel it is too easy for the likes of Gayle and his West Indian compatriot Keiron Pollard.
The West Indian duo may be two of the biggest names in the phenomenon that is Twenty20 cricket, but part of their success is due to the quality and weight of the bats that they use. Modern bats are so thick and powerful that the leading players can mishit the ball and it will still result in another maximum.
Often you see Gayle seemingly edge one towards the heavens, as the contact is far from the middle of the bat, and you’re sure that it will just loop into the hands of a fielder, yet the only person who stands a chance of taking the catch is the spectator in row Z.
A couple of weeks ago India’s Mahendra Singh Dhoni clubbed a ball that far that it was seemingly still rising as it sailed out of the stadium, and that surely confirmed that the equipment that batsmen have at their disposal is simply too powerful, and causes an imbalance in the game.
Batsmen may be stronger now than twenty years ago, but I don’t necessarily think that they’re any better. The main factor that has changed is that they have adapted their game to suit the new format of Twenty20 cricket, and have been benefitted by the developments in the technology of cricket bats, which has progressed exponentially over the past decades.
The cause is not helped by the fact that boundaries are often brought in by a further ten or twenty yards, again tilting the contest in the favour of the batsmen, whilst often the IPL pitches are mundane and offer little help for the bowlers.
Of course the fans love seeing the ball sail many a mile for six, that is the allure and appeal of Twenty20 cricket, but sometimes you have to feel that the direction the game has moved in, and the current situation with the brilliance of the cricket bats, eliminates some of the challenge of the game, and overall has a detrimental effect on the sport as a whole.