India's Suryakumar Yadav bats during the T20 World Cup cricket match between India and Zimbabwe in Melbourne, Australia. (AP) Pakistan team mentor Matthew Hayden said T20 cricket is not all about the ‘power game’, and Suryakumar Yadav has showed that beautifully with his exhilarating stroke play.
“Power game in T20 cricket is still being explored. Because there is a mixture, and this tournament has shown that really significantly that there is a threat still with the new ball,” Hayden told reporters.
“Everyone talks about making the most of the powerplay, where the strike rates should be high. We (Pakistan) were criticised about this in the last year’s world cup as well. It was six and seven runs and over. But if you are five down in the power play it doesn’t really matter about your power game because you’re out of momentum and are on the mercy of the game’s momentum,” he added.
“When looking at the tournament so far. Guys like Suryakumar Yadav is playing beautifully, from the middle to the late stage. With a competency of all areas of the ground with access shots innovation. Batters like him are threats. So It’s not always about the power.
“As I said I think as cricketers we are all trying to come to grips with when is the power? When’s that foot go down on the floor? When does it decelerate and look to preserve? Lot of the matches have been very close. The tricky balance between preservation of the wickets versus exploration of innovation have been really why I think a lot of these sides that are here now in this tournament are still here,” he added.
Hayden also said if power game could have won you matches, then Australia would have won the tournament.
“Australia’s a great case of that. Got the power to burn but it hasn’t been able to handle the new ball, and then middle order looked vulnerable,” he said.