Pollard and the match-winning impact of the six hitter

When Mumbai Indians batsman Ambati Rayudu was dismissed against the Sunrisers Hyderabad last night his team was in a tight spot at 99-3 after 13.2 overs. By the end of the 15th over, the required rate had climbed up to 15.50 runs per over. But MI skipper Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard were still pretty calm. They knew they had a chance; a chance that relied on power hitting that only the likes of Pollard and a few others are capable of. And then it happened. Thisara Perera’s over, the 16th of the innings, was slammed for 29 runs. Amit Mishra’s over, the 17th of the innings, was hammered for 21 runs. 50 runs in 2 overs, game over. In fact at one point, Pollard had scored 34 runs in 6 balls. It was power hitting at it’s most brutal and that’s what teams need to win in Twenty20 cricket. [caption id=“attachment_780561” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Pollard was simply stunning for MI last night. BCCI[/caption] You can hit the best shots in the world along the ground but there’s always a chance of a fielder stopping it. There is also the chance of the batsman timing it perfectly but hitting it straight to the fielder – we’ve seen it happen so many times with Dravid. On the other hand, a six cannot be stopped. It is a shot that takes the fielders out of the equation. And in a nutshell that is the difference between the bottom five teams and the current top four teams (Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals, Royal Challengers Bangalore). A look at the top six-hitting players shows that RCB have three (Gayle, Kohli, AB de Villiers) in the top ten. Mumbai Indians also have three (Rohit Sharma, Pollard, Dinesh Karthik) in the top ten. Chennai Super Kings have two (Michael Hussey and MS Dhoni) and Rajasthan Royals have one (Shane Watson) in the top ten. David Miller is the only player in the top ten who is not from a top four team but he hasn’t even played all the matches for his team – perhaps KXIP missed a trick. And that list has it’s own tale to tell. In T20, you need your big-hitters to come to the party – there will be times when the asking rate will climb to 14-15 and the only way to counter that is by hitting sixes. For DD, Pune and KKR, the big-hitters like David Warner, Yuvraj Singh and Yusuf Pathan have failed and so have the teams. Shane Watson’s 70 off 34 balls with six sixes (when CSK had not managed to hit a single one in their innings) did the trick for RR against CSK a few days back and Pollard did it for Mumbai against the Sunrisers Hyderabad last night. In Tests, the best batsmen have the best defence. In ODIs, the best batsmen are the one’s who can get a single for every ball they face. In T20s, the best batsmen without doubt are the six hitters.