T20 cricket is the format where an intended cover drive edged behind the wicket for four is a better stroke than a classic cover drive that fetches only one run. That is understandable. Means don’t matter, ends do.
The question is, does that apply to all cricket now? Will commentators be telling us, “It doesn’t matter how they come so long as they come” as a matter of course? Or does it still matter how they come? One of cricket’s conceits has been the importance of getting the ‘how’ right.
Watching the effectiveness of the overhead flick, the hopeful swish and the roundarm heave (strokes are invented faster than their descriptions) at the IPL, the question asks itself: have all technical discussions on batting been rendered irrelevant? Even an otherwise elegant batter like Rohit Sharma sometimes gets into awkward positions as he attempts that one shot to flummox both bowler and fielder.
