Licence to Thrill Part Two

by Satish Sekar © Satish Sekar (July 2^nd 2009)[1]

Editor’s Note – April 18^th 2025

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is underway. It is main club t20tournament in the world, although England’s new white ball (limited overs) captain, Yorkshire’s Harry Brook[2] has prioritised his country’s needs above the riches he could have earned in the IPL. Brook pulled out of the IPL for the second consecutive year after participating in the auction. In 2024 it was due to the death of his grandmother, but this time it was to ‘recharge his batteries’.

Following frustration from teams over late withdrawals, the IPL has initiated two-year bans for withdrawals that are not for medical or family-related reasons. Brook’s withdrawal left his team, the Delhi Capitals in a mess, struggling to replace him. Nevertheless, they sit proudly at top of the standings of the 2025 tournament, having won five of their six matches so far with eight remaining in the group stage.

We are publishing these articles from our archive again as we believe T20 has a very important role to play in the development of cricket then and now.

The Editor

“T20 is a Bowler’s Game” says Kumar Sangakkara

Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara has an unexpected opinion of Twenty20 cricket. The wicket-keeper batsman insists that contrary of conventional wisdom of the format favouring batsmen, it is a bowler’s game.

“I think Twenty20 is a bowler’s game and I’ve always said that,” Sangakkara says. “Bowlers have a great opportunity to take wickets – add the pressure on batsmen – and I think you’ll find bowlers becoming the more and more successful as Twenty20 progresses.”

It is an interesting view that flies in the face of the established opinions of many cricketers and pundits. Chris Gayle’s demolition of Ricky Ponting’s Australia was an innings that will be remembered for a long time. Yuvraj Singh’s magnificent innings against the West Indies was even better as it was against type for long periods, while still scoring freely before the onslaught and Dwayne Bravo’s response was a superb knock too.

Lendl Simmons proved that South African attack was not unplayable, even though, like Yuvraj’s knock it was in a losing effort. Mahela Jayawardena’s elegant innings against Ireland was impressive as well and there were fine contributions from Sangakkara himself, the Player of the Tournament, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Shahid Afridi, Luke Wright and many others as well.

For those who came to see batsmen smack bowlers around, there were many memorable innings. There was improvisation, especially the Dilshan Paddle or Scoop and there were fantastic catches too, but the best ever performance in the history of the Twenty20 World Cup was greeted with a shameful furore.

Magnificent Bowling

Pakistan’s Umer Gul destroyed New Zealand with a magnificent exhibition of reverse swing bowling. The Black Caps, led by skipper Daniel Vettori, sought clarification that he had not cheated without making a formal complaint. Gul took 5 for 6 from his four overs and did it legitimately. The ball was examined by both umpires Mark Benson and Rod Tucker and match referee Ranjan Madugalle. They had no issue with the condition of the ball. That should have been the end of the matter, but the finger of suspicion still pointed at Gul. In the following match the umpires examined the ball after every over and every wicket that fell. It showed very poor sportsmanship and a failure to understand that reverse swing can be obtained legitimately.

Despite the manufactured controversy Gul made an impressive case for Twenty20 being a bowler’s game after all. He is the leading wicket-taker in both World Cups 13 in 2007 and 14 this time. Also, Sangakkara’s no longer secret weapon, the leg-spinner Ajantha Mendis, was second only to Gul with 12, which included 3 for 9 against New Zealand and 3 for 20 against Australia.

Shahid Afridi’s form with the bat had been wretched at the start of the World Cup, but he was worth his place as a bowler. He took 12 wickets in the first World Cup and 11 in the latest edition, including 4 for 11 against the Netherlands.

Lasith Malinga: Muttiah Muralitharan, Roelof van der Merwe, Wayne Parnell among others produced magnificent bowling performances too.

Pressure on Batsmen

“In Twenty20 cricket unless you are batting all the time in games, it’s always hard to find your rhythm,” says Sangakkara, “but whoever comes in has to try his best and try and do the job on the day, take responsibility.”

The pressure is mainly on batsmen to perform, but that is beginning to change; thanks to Sangakkara’s team in particular sceptics are coming round to his opinion that Twenty20 is becoming a bowler’s game. Malinga agrees with his captain.

Convinced?

Nevertheless, Chris Gayle is less convinced, believing that Sangakkara can afford to hold that view because of the attack he has at his disposal. Muralitharan, Malinga and Mendis were probably the most feared attack in the Twenty20 World Cup. Despite Gayle’s disagreement, Chanderpaul supports Sangakkara’s view. “I think Sanga is right in a way,” he says. “It’s never easy to play out there. It’s always difficult, you know that, but whatever plan we have, we’ll go out there and put it in place.”

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[1] This article was first published in the Magazine in 2009. It was originally not in two parts, but it has been split for the convenience of readers.

[2] Brook has been appointed England’s new captain for ODIs (one-day internationals) and Twenty20 matches. Brook had been Jos Buttler’s vice-captain. Buttler stepped down after England’s poor showing in the Champions Trophy in February 2025.