Need to be smart to have a ball in Lanka

When the 16 teams land in the emerald island for the fourth edition of the World Twenty 20, all eyes will be on the big stroke-makers. S Dipak Ragav reports.

When the 16 teams land in the emerald island for the fourth edition of the World Twenty 20, all eyes will be on the big stroke-makers.

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The shortest format has often been billed as a batsman's game but more often that not it has been proved that the best way to tame sides is to pick wickets and restrict the team to low scores.

To achieve that, the bowlers across the world will have to plot and stop the likes of Virender Sehwag, Chris Gayle and David Warner.

On batting friendly wickets in Sri Lanka, the pressure on the bowlers is likely to be even more immense. Bowlers have been forced to introduce many variations stay ahead of the batsmen.

Former India bowler, TA Sekar, throws light on the challenges a bowler faces in the format and suggests ways to overcome it. He says, "In the world T20, a bowler needs to be spot on. There are just 120 deliveries and there needs to be a proper game plan."

The bowler will have to do his homework properly.

"As a bowler you must know the strength and weakness of the batsman but also what his release shot is when he is under pressure," Sekar says. "A bowler must be smart to know when to bowl the variation deliveries. If there are three dot balls, a slower delivery is not wise because a batsman might try to hit it and in most likelihood, will connect it too."