T20 cricket is the cruelest format for a bowler. Even if you are having a good day, and have bowled 3 economical overs, your figures can be spoiled and your team harmed significantly with one bad over in which you get clattered for a number of sixes.
2022 hasn’t been any different from any previous years, with the bat dominating the ball in the shortest format. If anything, the batters have enjoyed this year perhaps even more than the past few, given the nature of flat pitches, and hence many big scores have been put up and chased down, making life all the more difficult for the bowlers.
With the T20 World Cup coming up, the performances of some bowlers have posed questions and raised concerns for their respective teams.
Here are the 5 bowlers who have conceded the most sixes in T20Is this year:
5. Mark Adair – 20 sixes
Ireland seamer Mark Adair has bowled not badly this year – 21 wickets in 20 T20Is, but has slightly been on the expensive side with an economy of 8.5. This is a consequence of him being walloped for 20 sixes this year. Adair is not a regular bowler in the death overs, so it also makes a concern for Ireland.
4. Jason Holder – 21 sixes
West Indies seamer Jason Holder has brought rewards, but that has come at a cost: 22 wickets in 14 T20Is including a 4-for and a 5-for, at an economy of 8.91. Since last year, Holder has been given the job of bowling in the slog overs for West Indies, so it isn’t surprising that he’s conceded 21 sixes in T20Is this year.
3. Avesh Khan – 21 sixes
Indian fast bowler Avesh Khan is new to international cricket and didn’t have a great start before being dropped. In 15 T20Is this year, Avesh leaked runs at an economy of 9.1 while taking 13 wickets. He has been thumped for 21 sixes in his T20I career so far.
2. Romario Shepherd – 23 sixes
Among all bowlers of full members who have played at least 10 T20Is this year, West Indies medium pacer Romario Shepherd’s economy, 10.3, is the second-worst; Sri Lanka’s Dasun Shanaka’s economy of 11 is the worst.
Shepherd has taken 15 wickets in 14 T20Is in 2022, but has also been smoked for 23 sixes.
1. Harshal Patel – 30 sixes!
Known for his death bowling skills, Harshal Patel is having a poor 2022 for India; it won’t be wrong to say that Harshal has, surprisingly, been the most disappointing Indian bowler in T20Is this year even though he has the wickets to show: 20 wickets in 18 T20Is but he’s been taken to the cleaners, leaking 9.27 runs per over; worse, in the death overs he has an economy of 11.45.
Harshal has been clattered for a total of 30 sixes already in 2022, and there are still about a dozen T20Is for India left. His performances in the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia could well define Harshal’s career.
