IPL’s batting marauders set a scorching pace, but will their feats endure? Premium

Relive childhood cricket memories as the IPL showcases a batter's game, with high strike rates and boundary galore.

Remember those childhood days of yore with cricketing jousts in narrow lanes and dusty grounds? The boy who owned the bat could never get out. Often the petulant willow owner would leave with what he possessed. Just because everyone needed their turn at the crease, the despot’s blatant dismissals would be overturned until he was adequately satiated with runs.

Cricket may have that sobriquet of being a ‘Gentleman’s Game’, but in this age of Twenty20, we may well call it a ‘Batter’s Game’. Be it those contests when we were young or the ones witnessed now at the ground and on television, the holder of the bat is always pampered, as fielding restrictions ensure that the rival attack is virtually running in with one hand tied.

During childhood, there was that saving grace of a one-pitch catch and instant dismissal if the ball landed in the neighbour’s terrace, but no such fine print exists at the highest level. And you cannot blame R. Ashwin when he put out a social media post about the need to save bowlers. With the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) 17th edition merrily chugging along, the heat on the hapless bowlers is truly on.

W.G. Grace, one of cricket’s greats with a mythical allure, once famously said: “They came to see me bat.” He then refused to depart on being dismissed. Perhaps his spirit has been allowed to waft into the air blowing across cricketing turfs. India has proved it is no exception and the latest IPL has again witnessed a batting carnage as maximums, to borrow a commentator’s cliche, or sixes, to be more direct, have rained across venues spread on the coast, across the Gangetic Plains and on either side of the Vindhyas.

Last Sunday, Will Jacks smashed a 41-ball ton for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) against Gujarat Titans at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium. It does sound like a knock marinated with Muhammad Ali’s muscle and a cheetah’s speed. But please go easy on the superlatives, it is actually the fifth fastest IPL hundred. ‘Universe Boss’ Chris Gayle, who carved one off a mere 30 deliveries back in 2013, leads the charts. For those interested in trivia, Gayle was turning out for RCB too.

However, what defined Jacks and his foray at the crease was the manner in which he progressed from 50 to 100. Like a wry RCB post on X mentioned, at 6.41 p.m., Jacks was on 50, and at 6.47 p.m., the England star had galloped to his three-figure mark. Spinner Rashid Khan, seamer Mohit Sharma and the rest were put to the sword. Earlier this IPL season, Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Travis Head struck a 39-ball century against RCB!

Batting strike-rates have gone through the roof. Veteran M.S. Dhoni’s 229.16 may be a reflection of the great traction he gains while facing just a few deliveries at the death, but even among top-order batters, the strike-rates are so high that they could give any Mumbai skyscraper an inferiority complex. Head, for instance, clocks 193.62.