In the last few years, mostly foreigner players used to be identified as power-hitters. The teams used to be dependent on batsmen such as Andre Russell, Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, Jos Buttler, Eoin Morgan, Kieron Pollard, Chris Lynn, Dwayne Bravo, A.B. de Villiers, David Warner and Jonny Bairstow for the six-spree . But in the current season of IPL, Indian power-hitters have given spellbinding performances.
Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant were named when it came to identifying the Indian power-hitters. Moreover, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Sanju Samson and Ajinkya Rahane also displayed their capabilities as power-hitters. But these players could not sustain it.
In this season of IPL, most of the teams have played two matches each and some of them have played even three matches. In fact, it will be too early to make a final opinion but still admirable are the players who have continued show of power-hitting which was seen last year also.
Sanju Samson is one such player. He has played two matches in this season of IPL, and in both the matches, he has been awarded Man of the Match. He hit nine sixes against Chennai Super Kings and seven sixes against Kings XI Punjab and his strike rate is a huge 214.86. In the first match, Piyush Chawla and Ravindra Jadeja were targeted by him, and in the second match he targeted Maxwell. Sanju not only plays pull shots well but his hits over long-off and long-on are unique. His shots are not mistimed in such power hitting. He has developed his pull shots. In view of this skill of Samson, seamers gave him very few short balls in both the matches. The strategy to deliver the ball far from his body was adopted by the bowlers, but Sanju used his steps well and did not allow this trick to succeed. Last year also, Sanju had scored second fastest century in IPL by hitting hundred off 54 balls against SRH.
Similarly, Mayank Agarwal is known to play big innings. But this time, he displayed a different kind of talent by virtue of massive power-hitting in the two matches.
Like Sanju, Mayank also hits over the head of the bowler and he likes to hit in the direction of long-off, long-on. A massive 221 runs in three matches and strike rate of 170 is enough to explain his talent. Sometimes, Rohit Sharma’s trademark shots get reflected in Mayank’s superb clean hitting over the midwicket.
The third power hitter is K.L. Rahul. He demonstrated huge power-hits spree against RCB and his innings was the biggest one of any Indian in IPL. He particularly hit speedsters. He hit Dale Steyn, Navdeep Saini and Umesh Yadav in a match against RCB and he openly smashed balls from Jofra Archer and Ankit Rajput. The faster the ball, the speedier the shot. The difference was only that he did not hit indiscriminately against Rajasthan Royals but he hit according to the merit of the ball. He knew that Mayank Agarwal, who was on the other end, was in full form. Therefore, he controlled himself and stopped short of playing such shots for some time in the match.
In the same match, Rahul Tewatia turned hero from villain by smashing five sixes in one over of Sheldon Cottrell who was, hitherto, proving to be an excellent bowler in this match. He was not able to rise to expectations of Captain Steve Smith in the upper order for batting. At the same time, Rohit Sharma was also seen executing power hits against KKR. Jofra Archer and Pat Cummins were among the foreigners who displayed splendid hits. They are actually bowlers.
Particularly, Jofra Archer’s hits scripted victory in both the matches. Let’s be hopeful that several other Indian power-hitters emerge in this season of IPL. Everybody is waiting for the show of power hitting from Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya.