MELBOURNE: These are strange times in the fast mutating world of T20s. The pressure to constantly win in what is essentially a fickle, abridged version of something intended to play out over longer hours has resulted in some quirky thinking. On the back of the hundreds of games played in franchise cricket across the world and the hours of data they provide, the format has evolved to become a highly strategic, high-on-unorthodox-skills game.
Multiple backroom inputs, power-hitting obsessions, relentless slow bowling and wide-yorker remedies, rigid and predictable match-ups have all contributed to nearly erasing the element of surprise. Yet captains and coaches continue to believe in these trends because it all somehow works, or because they believe it works.
