The big shift: Why batters are having a record-breaking IPL

"Cricket is turning into baseball, isn't it?" It was with a faint smile and some helplessness that Sam Curran uttered these words in the aftermath of Punjab Kings (PBKS) chasing down a record 262 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at Eden Gardens last week. Curran was obviously chuffed as the skipper of the winning team on the night, but as an all-rounder whose primary task is to take wickets and stem runs, there was also empathy with fellow bowlers across both dugouts after a manic run fest.

The game in Eden Gardens wasn't an anomaly.

Eight of the ten highest IPL totals have come this season. All of them are over 250, a barrier that had been breached only once, in 2023, before this edition. A total of 903 sixes in 50 games (till Thursday) makes for an average of 18 per game.

If we extrapolate this number to the remaining 24 games, we are likely to end up with 1,336 sixes, beating the previous high of 1,124 sixes in 2023. The current figure is already the third highest in an IPL season. That 1000-plus sixes were never hit in a single edition before 2022 points to the changing dynamics of T20 batting.

If Curran's contention that T20 cricket is turning into baseball has merit, there is arguably nobody better than Julian Wood to provide further insight. Wood, a former English first-class cricketer, is a specialist power-hitting coach who has worked with T20 teams and franchises around the world including Punjab Kings. More importantly, Wood's training methods are derived largely from baseball, having spent considerable time in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States.

"The mindset has shifted. It's phenomenal where the game is going. For me, T20 batting is the fastest evolving part of any sport in the world," Wood said in an interview over the phone. "The scores have soared, and records are being broken every week. The mindset has been very different. The way batters approach the first six overs especially. They just basically go now. It's as simple as that."

The introduction of the Impact Player rule in 2023 has certainly provided more security and freedom for the top six to unleash. Yet the consistency with which batters are clearing the boundary points to a paradigm shift in ability and outlook.

"It certainly helps the mindset. But I don't like the rule," opined Wood, who worked with Punjab in 2022. "They don't use it in international cricket. The rule does make it easier because you have got an extra batter. When batters at the top know that the batter coming in at No.8 is a proper batter, it gives them even more of a license."

The mindset shift, according to Wood, is exemplified by young Australian opener Jake Fraser-McGurk, who already has two 15-ball fifties six games into his IPL career.

"Someone like Fraser-McGurk, he's just trying to hit fours and sixes. He has no interest in anything else. He knows one way. Over 80% of his runs are in boundaries but he faces a lot of dots. He doesn't do much with the balls that he cannot hit for four or six. When you look at the mindset of coaches, they will probably say you need to do more with the balls that you cannot hit for four or six. But if you say that to him, he's probably going to miss out on what he's looking for," Wood said.

Fraser-McGurk's example is also pertinent because he doesn't strike you as being big and strong. If Andre Russell, Romario Shepherd, Rovman Powell and Mitch Marsh are examples of power-hitters who hit the ball with brute force, the 22-year-old Australian relies on other aspects to be just as effective.

"The big guys can stay still and just muscle it," Wood explained, "The smaller guys rely heavily on the rhythm and timing of their movements. When you swing a bat, there are a kinetic chain of events that happen. You encourage that by constant movement. It almost gives you a head start. The smaller guys need to have that rhythm and timing of their movements. And you can't get too close to the ball. You need space. I call it clean space, which is space for the hands and bat to come through. If you have too much space, you lose control of the bat. If you have too little space, you get restricted. What these guys are very good at is creating the optimum space that they want. Without space, you cannot accelerate your hands through the ball."

In addition, batters are increasingly setting up like they do in baseball, with their feet deep in the crease and hands held high. "Yes (it's becoming more and more like baseball). Phil Salt is an example of someone who sets up very much in baseball style. The hands are much higher when they take stance than they used to be. (Jos) Buttler's hands are quite low. But generally, the hands of a lot of batters are higher," said the 55-year-old.

Some of these six-hitters may not be as proficient at rotating the strike and minimising dot balls. But does it really matter when you can clear the boundary at will? Take the 2016 T20 World Cup semi-final for instance; India's 192/2 included 17 fours and four sixes and plenty of ones and twos, but the West Indians just bludgeoned their way to victory with 20 fours and 11 sixes.

"The team that hits more fours and sixes will win the game. If you can clear the ropes, the dot balls don't matter so much because you have time," Wood said. "When you don't have that power game, you have to hustle and run ones and twos."

Virat Kohli belongs to this more orthodox school of batting. That he still has 500 runs in 10 matches at a strike rate of 147.49 highlights his all-format flexibility, but do players of his ilk have the game to fit the format's evolving demands?

"Kohli hits the ball hard enough. He has skill and touch," said Wood. "It's a generation thing. The younger guys have been brought up differently and it's been embedded in them to play that way. Kohli has got to do what works for him. If you look at the sixes hit by Rohit (Sharma) and Kohli, the younger guys are hitting twice as many sixes as them. The youngsters will just be better at T20 cricket than them and the next generation that comes up will be even better. It's just the mindset that is very different."