The run-fest in Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Saturday was another testament that cricket is only a batter's game and bowlers are on the verge of being outdated soon. Delhi Capitals defeated Mumbai Indians by just 10 runs despite setting a huge target of 258 runs in match 43 of the Indian Premier League (IPL). (Full Coverage|More Cricket News)
It was chaos for bowlers as they were being bashed all around the park in the scorching heat of Delhi. A total of 32 sixes were hit in the match - 17 by DC and 15 by MI. MI's skipper Hardik Pandya invited Rishabh Pant & Co. to bat first after winning the toss and the hosts amassed 257/4 in 20 overs.
Even a 250-plus score looked achievable as Mumbai Indians started the chase. Tilak Varma (63 off 32) and Hardik Pandya (46 off 24) were keen to chase down the target but the 'Impact Player' Rasikh Dar Salam provided the much-needed breakthrough. He finished the match with bowling figures of 4-0-34-3 which was commendable in a batters-dominated match.
Tim David and the tailenders tried their best to overturn the fate, but it was eventually left 10 runs short of the target.
The high-scoring games are no longer a rarity in the IPL. The fans were also not so amused with the run-leakage at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
A DC fan named Pradeep Kumar told Outlook correspondent that he is bored of such regular high-scoring games. He also blamed shorter boundaries and the Impact player rule for this.
"The Impact Player rule should be abolished from the game. It is ruining the beauty of cricket. T20 cricket was fun earlier, but now it has become just a batter's game. Bowlers bowl well and dismiss the player but due to the new 'Impact Player' rule, the next batter comes with the freedom to slog". he said.
An aggregate of 504 runs were made in Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday. This was the fourth occasion when the aggregate total had surpassed 500 runs. Interestingly, the other three were also made this season.
This IPL season has already seen Punjab Kings successfully chasing the highest target in T20 cricket (262 against KKR). More than 250 runs have been made in this season on eight occasions. There were just two occasions before this season when the batting team had crossed the 250 mark. But it seems like a regularity now.
Sunrisers Hyderabad, alone, have crossed the 250 mark thrice so far this season. They have also breached their own record of the highest total in IPL (287 against RCB).
RCB's Mohammed Siraj has openly criticised the impact rule earlier. Mumbai Indians' former captain Rohit Sharma has also talked about the harm this rule is doing to the cricket. Delhi Capitals' Mukesh Kumar and Axar Patel are other players who are not a big fan of this rule.
It was not only the Impact Player rule that is annoying cricket fans around the globe but the boundary size and flat pitches are other contributors as well. The square boundaries of the DC versus MI match in the IPL 2024 were 59 metres and 64 metres respectively. And it is not an unknown fact that most of the pitches in this season so far were flat tracks.
Sajni, a young Rohit Sharma fan was also there in the audience. She came to support her favourite team Mumbai Indians. Her mother, Abha told Outlook that she could barely understand cricket but whenever any player hit a boundary she shouts and cheers for them. Similar was the condition of most of the fans at Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday.
Rohan Palhal, a die-hard Mumbai Indians fan came to support his team in the clash against DC and talked about how the bowler's impact is reducing from the game due to the flat track pitches and shorter boundaries.
"Bowlers win you the matches but unfortunately with the shorter boundaries and flat-track pitches, the margin of error is minimal. And because of these new changes in the boundary's size and batting-friendly pitches, bowlers have no say in the game", he told Outlook.
Despite being a high-scoring thriller, the overall vibe at the Arun Jaitley Stadium was not very pleasant. People looked fed up and tired. The heat may be the reason but true fans are not so excited with the current directions in which the game is going.
