‘Cricket is turning into baseball’

After Punjab Kings chased down a gargantuan 262-run target set by Kolkata Knight Riders with eight balls to spare, their captain Sam Curran was left wondering whether cricket had turned into baseball.

The bowlers are looking increasingly helpless against batters in the ongoing Indian Premier League, with teams inching closer and closer to scoring 300 runs in a T20 game.

At the Eden Gardens in Kolkata yesterday, the host side posted 262-6 in their 20 overs but were unable to defend it owing to a brilliant century from Jonny Bairstow and unbeaten 68 off just 28 balls from Shashank Singh. This was the highest successful chase in men's T20s.

After the win, even the captain of the winning team was left astounded by what his batters had just accomplished.

"Cricket is turning into baseball, isn't it? It was absolutely incredible," Curran said at the post-match presentation.

"Where do we [start]? Absolutely delighted with two points. Games like that are out of the world, but most importantly we've had a tough few weeks as a team [this was Kings' first win in five games] but we've really hung in there. We've taken teams down to the wire and, I think, forget about the scores... I thought we actually deserved victory," he added.

The match produced the most sixes (42) in a T20 match, surpassing the 38 sixes hit in both the Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians match in Hyderabad last month, and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Hyderabad game in Bengaluru last week.

Curran feel that the change in preparation and mentality of the modern batters is behind such carnage.

"I think the way guys train is obviously huge and they can hit balls for a long period of time. I guess it's the confidence, coaches and the way we've been training. Let's be honest - small grounds with a bit of dew and the ball [gets wet] and sometimes you get a wide call. You think you've got a dot ball, you review it and then it's wide. Then an extra ball.

"So, yeah, not saying it's a batsman's game but it's showing... I'm sure everyone wants to keep seeing sixes. I think stats is definitely going out of the window. It's all about winning those small moments."