Three great innings in three formats in under three weeks

This is quite an extraordinary time for batsmen. Just imagine three great innings in three different formats all coming up in as short a span of time as a fortnight to three weeks. Even considering modern cricket is all about the domination of the willow over the white and red ball, this trifecta was quite amazing. First there was the Sri Lankan batsman Kusal Perera’s stupendous 153* that won the first Test match for them on south African soil, sensationally adding 78 with the last man Vishwa Fernando.

And then came the Jos Buttler knock in the Caribbean in an ODI in which he raced from 50 to 150 in the last 10 overs off just 31 balls, getting an average of 10 runs an over off his own bat to give England a record total of 418. If such a total did not seem that easy to defend, it was the presence in the middle of the senior batsman Chris Gayle who is all set to retire from ODIs after the World Cup.  The man from sunny Jamaica has hit a purple patch in the winter of his international career, as ever hitting sixes at will, crossing 10,000 with his 500th ODI six in more spectacular striking of the white ball.

Completing the trifecta was the match-winning century by the Australian striker Glenn Maxwell in the T20I format when chasing down 190-plus, always possible in flat conditions but in India, against clever spinners turning the ball both ways, it needed a brutal hitting power after sighting the rotation of the ball early. Maxwell has that ability in abundance and if he had not been able to shine enough like this earlier in his limited-overs career, it can only be put down to a suspect temperament.  Maxwell seems to have come to relish the full prowess of his capabilities now and is a sparkling talent to watch when in brutal flow.

The rich tale of powerful batting performances was by no means finished in the intervening days. Kane Williamson slipped into top gear to notch a double century (without a six) in a record New Zealand total in the Test against Bangladesh at home. A batsman so steeped in technical finesse is he that the Kiwi is capable of making the runs in any format, all the while being very pleasing to the eye. He plays authentic cricketing strokes, mostly along the ground and the lofted hits too come from a geometric swing of the willow, used as a bat rather than a club.

You could very well say the same of Virat Kohli who played out of his skin to set that 190-plus target in the second T20I, which India still lost because of Maxwell. The one to take the breath away by sheer dint of an applied batting performance was Kedar Jadhav, who took on the responsibility of being the finisher for the day in the first ODI against the Aussies. And who did he take the mantle from than Mahendra Singh Dhoni, till not so long ago the most feared and consistent finisher of games? For sheer cleverness of effort and intelligence in finding the spaces to gather runs, it appeared Jadhav had taken a leaf out of Dhoni’s batting book.

The modern game tilted in favour of the bat long before these short boundaries became compulsory in the era of big bucks of televised cricket. The boundary ropes have been brought in ostensibly to save the outfielders injury as they attempt catches or saves close to the advertisement boards. What they mean to the modern game is quicker scoring with even mishits sailing for six. The pitches for the one-day game have been standardised into flat beds without any moisture in them and the dew factor at nights means bowlers have even less going for them with a heavy and slippery ball at the business end of the game.

 So different are the ODIs of today from what the West Indies and India won in the 1975, 1979 and 1983 is that it becomes odious to make any comparisons. Almost chalk and cheese in changed playing conditions save in the one supposed advantage of one white ball for each end and five fielders allowed outside the ring in the last 10 overs. Even so, modern batsmen are supercharged versions of their predecessors. They won’t think a second before going for a six hit off the first ball they face. Their attacking prowess has been honed into a fine art of striking the ball regardless of the degrees of difficulty.

Considering that three great innings in three different formats have come even as the third month in the calendar year has just about dawned represents the power of modern batsmen and how they have evolved into these super strikers of the cricket ball. That’s entertainment!