Ponting opens up on evolution of T20 cricket, strike rate and anchor role in short format game

New Delhi [India], May 3 : Delhi Capitals (DC) coach and legendary Australian skipper Ricky Ponting opened up on the evolution of T20 cricket, strike rate as a parameter to measure a batter's effectiveness, anchor role in the shorter format, and said that the batters are getting more fearless and stronger and better in regards to range-hitting, 360-degree shots.
Ponting was speaking to ESPNCricinfo. Opening up on the changing times in T20 cricket, Ponting said that a 300 score is more likely in the T20 leagues, like the IPL. He said that the impact player rule has changed the game by giving batters more freedom to bat and make an impact since they always have an extra batter.
"I did not think a 300 score would ever be possible, but it looks like it's going to be. With this impact player rule as well, it is allowing more freedom to batters. They're going out there and just going from ball one. There is no, you know, take five, six balls to get in and get set. It is go out and hit from ball one. And if you come off, you come off, and even if you only face 15 balls and you get 40, that's a big impact on the game," said Ponting.
"That is what we talk about with our boys all the time. It is about how big or small the moment is, how much time or how little time you get as a batsman, just really try and have an impact on the game," he added.
Ponting said that the importance of strike rate depends on batting position but it is becoming more and more important and the impact player rule has given players a "safety blanket" to go out on the field and achieve a certain strike rate in certain balls.
"It depends on the batting position (strike rate). We used to work on a formula - a combined average and strike rate. If that was a certain number, then you would classify that player as being good. If your strike rate was 160 and your average was 20, it equalled 180 and that was okay. If your strike rate was 130 but your average was 50, at the top of the order, you'd probably take that as well. That equals 180," said Ponting.
"But strike rate is increasingly becoming more important. Previously the big thing in T20 batting was, if one of your top-order players got an 80-plus score and then someone got a 40-plus score, you generally won most games doing that. But now it is probably the strike-rate thing. Every batter - it looks to me, anyway - is going to try and achieve a certain strike rate. It doesn't even matter how many balls they face. Because they have got the safety blanket now in the impact batter coming in," he added.
Speaking on the relevance of an anchor in T20 cricket, Ponting said that it depends on teams, with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Mumbai Indians (MI) having an anchor in their top order for years to make life easier for their more explosive batters.
"Because of the squads you have got, you can never put out a perfect XI, or now it is 12, in the IPL. You are always going to have a little hole somewhere in your line-up, and you have to find a way around trying to plug that the best way that you possibly can. Chennai, if they were to try and play the way that Sunrisers are playing now, and lost a few early wickets, all of a sudden you have got Jadeja and Dhoni in the eighth or ninth over - they do not want that. They need someone that bats late, so that Jadeja and Dhoni can get the last four or five overs only," he added.
Speaking on playing the first-ever T20 international ever against New Zealand back in 2005, in which he won the 'Player of the Match' award for an unbeaten 98 in 55 balls, Ponting said that he initially thought the T20 could be a great marketing tool to introduce the game to youngsters and have them play ODIs and Test cricket gradually. The former Aussie skipper though had a feeling that the format would not last because consistent hitting would take a toll on its novelty.
"Matthew Hayden kept saying to me: "Mate, I am telling you, this is the future. This is where the game's going." And I am like, "No, it is not, mate. It is not going to last. Everyone is going to get sick of seeing fours and sixes and the novelty of this game will wear off quickly." He was right and I was wrong," said Ponting.
"To be honest, [T20] has not really changed much at all since that first game that we played. But what we have seen certainly in this IPL, the game is changing now. And that is just on the back of the impact player rule. In international cricket, there has been no dramatic rise in scoring rates. That is been pretty much the same. It is the IPL where it has showed up," he added.
Ponting said that the batters in T20 have got stronger and fearless. It is the fear of getting out that holds back batters in the shortest format, he added, but batters have to take it on to win tournaments.
"If you want to win these tournaments you cannot be scared. You have to take it on. You cannot be worried about failing. You have to have a picture of - and this is what I say to our boys all the time: for you as an individual, and as a team, you have to have a picture of what success looks like. If you do not have a picture of what success looks like for you in your head, then you will never know where you are going or how you are going to get there. And this whole fear-of-failure thing, I have never understood what that means," he added.
The former Aussie great said that over the years, the default setting of a batter's game is T20 cricket and batters are getting better at scoring all over the ground.
"It was never that way. And as they are playing more, so they are training more. This range-hitting stuff that they are doing, they have a really clear understanding now of exactly what they need to do to clear the ropes at every venue they go to. I will go to the ground today and guys will spend an hour and a half in the middle just range-hitting, just hitting balls into the stands and getting a feel for how they have to swing, or how hard they have to hit. We never ever trained that," said Ponting.
"The other part of batting getting better is that batters are able to score 360 degrees around the ground, and you have only got a certain amount of fielders," he added.
Ponting said 250-plus scores will become a norm at least in India, not only because of the impact player rule but ground sizes too.
"It would be a really cool thing, I reckon, to see two IPL teams play a game at the MCG. It would be an interesting concept," he added.