Former Indian cricketer turned commentator Dinesh Karthik added that there is a massive drop in batters’ ability to adapt to difficult surfaces after playing on flat surfaces in modern-day cricket. However, the Indian batters had the luxury of a batting paradise once again during the second T20I against West Indies, where they smashed 249-5 as well. Indian batters also did well on similar flat pitches in the subcontinent after scoring freely in the T20I series against Afghanistan.
“Modern-day batters are all becoming better by the day against good bowlers on flat pitches. But when the pitches become challenging, even if the bowling quality is not at its best, the modern-day batter is getting quite challenged quite a bit. A great example is the Ireland tour, basically how Ireland outplanned India. They kept them to about 140-150, and locked them down. So, it is a very strange but a very unique situation that is happening in modern-day cricket,” Dinesh Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
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The second T20I between India and West Indies became only the second in history to have a match total of over 500 runs. After the hosts posted a massive 249-5, West Indies also chased it down with nine deliveries to spare and registered their highest successful run chase as well.
“Five games in this bilateral series so far – three ODIs and two T20Is, all five games chased down, you have to look at the batters and marvel at what they are doing. The fact is that batting has evolved to a different level in terms of how the power game has come in. So credit to the batters; I feel for the bowlers, no doubt. There have been flat pitches like this in the last 2 decades, but this kind of hitting, from every batter who is walking out, has not happened. In the last 2-3 years, wherever I have been in India, you see batters are only practicing hitting the ball. Just hitting the sixes, that’s it. It is not about defence or taking singles and doubles. It is all about sixes,” Dinesh Karthik concluded.
