In the first 35 matches of IPL 2024, as many as 618 sixes were hit. Compare it to last year, 2023’s record is in danger where as many as 1124 hits went over the ropes. The power element in the sport is at full display, as four of the highest-scores ever made by teams in IPL were made this year — 287 by SRH, 277 by SRH, 272 by KKR, and 266 by SRH again.
If one talks about batsmen, Heinrich Klaasen has 26 sixes in seven matches, followed by Abhishek Sharma at 24. Chennai Super Kings’ Shivam Dube is slowly catching up too, with 22 maximums in eight encounters. There is a surprise entry in the list too, with Riyan Parag hitting 20 in eight. There is a clear indication, to be successful as a batsman in T20s, you need to hit sixes, a lot of them.
Ruturaj Gaikwad the Only Exception Among T20 Musclemen
On Tuesday, CSK skipper Ruturaj caressed his way to his second IPL ton, in only 56 balls. In a tournament where it’s normal to see batsmen hit seven-eight sixes in an innings, Rutu hit just three, and yet ended up scoring at a strike rate of 180. His innings also had 12 fours, while he ran a sizeable portion during his innings — 42. While, on the other end, Dube was going hammer and tongs, hitting seven sixes in his innings of 66 from 27.
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At no point did Ruturaj look to play shots that don’t come naturally to him. Instead he resorted to looking for gaps, and placing the ball.
More Fours Than Sixes for Ruturaj Gaikwad
Ever since Ruturaj played his first match in 2020, he has been the one to rely more on fours, than on sixes. His record shows just that. In his first year, he played six matches and scored 204 runs, hitting 16 fours and six sixes. The next year, out of the 635 runs he scored, he had 64 fours and 23 sixes. Then in 2022, he had 33 fours and 14 sixes. Last year, it was 46 fours and 30 sixes.
This just goes on to show that to speed up in T20s, once doesn’t necessarily look to hit sixes, but a work on a approach where the batsmen are looking to score on every opportunity — be it in form of boundaries, ones or twos.
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