So different is the basics fundamentals that players have in their approach towards to batting in T20 cricket compared to the other forms now that former Australia captain Mark Taylor feels that the shortest format can even be called a different sport altogether. Taylor, who was as famous for being hard to dismiss as he was for being prolific at the top of the order for a number of years, said that he may have grown up as a different player had he come up in the T20 era.
“I’d love to say yes,” said Taylor on the on the Turn it Up! show on Channel Nine’s Wide World of Sports Youtube page when asked about if he would’ve been able to adjust to the shortest format. “Look, I think if that had been the game I was brought up on, I would’ve had to. There is a certain amount of skill, different skills nowadays, it is more about hitting skills. If that was the game I had to play as I was developing as a cricket, sure, I would have tried to whack the ball over midwicket. The game I learnt in New South Wales was about staying in. Don’t get out and then you might be able to score some runs.”
Batters have generally accepted maximising runs off every ball in T20 cricket over the past couple of years especially. India had won the 2024 T20 World Cup with that approach and they only took it to another extreme on their way to a second consecutive title this year. In the IPL, nine of the top 10 run scorers thus far have strike rates above 150, three of them are above 200. Taylor said that the essence of batting when he was growing up was to put value on your wicket and spend time in the middle before harvesting runs. Whereas in T20s, the onus is on hitting right from the beginning.
“T20 cricket, it’s the same amount of players (but) it’s a different game. It almost shouldn’t be called cricket because it’s a different game. It’s the same amount of players, it’s still 10 dismissals and you have to bowl a side out but you’ve only got 20 overs to bat. You are taking out the accountability of getting out, which was the essence of batting when I was a kid,” he said.
