April 9: T20 format is all about smashing the ball and scoring more runs as quickly as possible. Old days gone when batsmen didn’t go for big shots with such attitude the way modern-day batsmen have been doing. With the introduction of T20 format and Indian Premier League, the mindset of teams and players about the pace of scoring runs has been changed completely.
The Board of Cricket Control in India inaugurated IPL in 2008 and since then players have changed their mentality of scoring runs. Now batsmen don’t fear of losing and coaches have asked players not to worry about losing wickets. Scoring boundaries percentage has spiked since the introduction of T20 World Cup and global T20 leagues especially IPL.
But the biggest question is: what makes a batsman to hit sixes?
Is it compulsory to have a muscular and strong body to clear ropes? Or is a heavy bat helpful in hitting boundaries?
Well if you look at the players like Kieron Pollard, MS Dhoni and Chris Gayle, you’ll definitely say that strong and muscular body is a must to hit ball out of the park. But if you look at other guys like Hardik Pandya, Ab De Villiers, Rishabh Pant and Nicolas Pooran, you’ll say there is no need to have powerful muscles to hit 6s in cricket.
Then what is required to hit sixes?
Well this was the important topic discussed in an interview series on IPL betting site Betway ahead of VIVO IPL 2021 in which several current players and former cricketers like Kevin Pietersen, Darren Lehmann and David Miller disclosed the secrets and facts to smack the ball out of stadium.
England’s 2010 T20 world cup winning team member Kevin Pietersen believes that smashing sixes on regular basis is completely timing based. If a batsman has got perfect timing to hit the ball, he can score quick runs with great strike rate as he’ll be able to hit sixes with ease and you don’t need to have powerful and strong body. He praises high for India’s all-rounder Hardik Pandya who is known for hitting sixes.
“You only have to have a look at a guy like Hardik Pandya from India. He is fairly muscly, but he’s not a Kieron Pollard or Chris Gayle. Hitting sixes regularly – it’s timing-based,” Pietersen said in a video.
On the other side of coin, it is also a popular opinion that having a heavy bat would help batsman to clear boundaries and he can easily hit sixes. But this is also a myth according to South Africa’s destructive batsman David Miller. He said that hitting sixes is all about the mindset of a player. If a batsman believes that he can hit six to a bowler, he will be able to do that. Weight of bat doesn’t matter much.
“I’m not necessarily big on the weight of a bat, but makes a massive difference in the mental side of things,” Miller quoted in the interview with Betway’s blog.
Do you agree with these thoughts from Pietersen and Miller?