T20 World Cup: How do the power-hitters of IND, ENG, AUS and PAK stack up against each other?

In the slam-bang world of T20 Internationals, the need for a powerful middle-order batting core has become more relevant now than ever before. Just ask Rohit Sharma. Soon after India crashed out of the T20 World Cup before the knockout stage even began, the newly appointed captain called for more aggressive, purposeful batting.

Rohit was right. As of 2021, statistics indicate that India’s batting was simply not urgent enough for the modern T20 game. Sample this: In every single T20 International India ever played between 2006 and 2021, the openers scored an average of 32.46 — the highest among full-member cricketing nations. Worryingly though, these runs came at a lukewarm strike rate (SR) of 132.79.

Virat Kohli’s once-in-a-generation batting at #3 has improved batting urgency significantly — India’s SR from its top 3 improved to 139.64 between 2018 and 2021. However, by this time the openers and Kohli himself were seeing off an average of 66 deliveries per T20 match, which meant that India’s run rate was an average figure of 8 runs per over for the first 11 overs. This left the middle-order with plenty of hitting to do — a task that it hasn’t exactly mastered.

Between 2018 and 2021, India’s batsmen from #4 to #7 boasted of an average of 30.86 — the highest among full-member nations, again. But their SR of 132.38 was disappointing when compared to England (140.94), South Africa (136.5), Pakistan (135.12) and New Zealand (133.69).

Given the vagaries that accompany the T20 opening (acclimatizing to swing, bounce and pace, and the need to see off the new ball) the T20 batting playbook harks back to one decisive factor: the need for a powerful engine room located in the belly of the playing eleven — the middle order.

 

 It is precisely here that India has made bold decisions, this World Cup. The team has stuck with Suryakumar Yadav (SR: 176.37), Hardik Pandya (146.37) and Dinesh Karthik (145.98) in the middle order, even taking the bold decision to drop Rishabh Pant from the eleven (numbers don’t lie, his T20 international SR is only 127.45) despite his batting showmanship.

 The one area where India clearly enjoys an edge over other teams is that its engine room is a bit like that of a Ferrari — give it a nice, long straight to drive on and it knows that it’s here for the long haul. Both Hardik and Suryakumar have been playing the best T20 matches of their lives this year, not only striking at 146.46 and 183.78, but notching up dream averages of 36.61 and 38.85. In the middle-order, such statistics can only point to one direction and that’s an all-out win — provided of course, both hitters bring their A-game to the World Cup.

 Suryakumar Yadav

Strike Rate: 176.37

Average: 37.85

In 2022: SR: 183.78, average: 38.85

Strike Rate: 146.37