Quote:
Originally Posted by Daemon
I dunno. Him playing a cameo early on allows everyone past Kohli to play more freely knowing there's still a ****load of firepower to come. That coupled with the fact that most teams in the comp are dire at bowling in the death means we're nearly guaranteed a good finish to the innings.
My concern is more that he won't be able to play these cameos consistently and may end up putting pressure on Gambhir and wasting the powerplay.
|
Well yes exactly, I couldn't see Pathan hitting Australia's express bowlers about. Fortunately Australia have bowled Twatto at him, and Hogg's gave him a pie.
In T20I you want someone who can carry on if they open the batting and get through the powerplay. It makes a big difference for instance when one (or both) of Australia's openers make it through to the 10th-12th over because they make what are statistically the quietest overs (7th over is the quietest, then it builds from there) into bigger overs because they can continue smacking the odd ball for 6, turning average overs into double figure overs. So you can easily gain 15-20 runs in that period over the 'average'. Whereas scoring much more than 9-10 an over at the death is difficult and requires assistance from the bowlers.
Australia should 'fear' a set batsman far more than a set player such as Pathan.