Are subcontinental teams more inherently suited to Twenty20

[The Outsider]

The qualification of two decidedly mediocre ODI units in the finals makes you wonder doesn't it? The shorter format offers the subcontinental brand of cricket more freedom of expression, live in the moment and let other things fall into place. Is it the street smart cricket that India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka play? The type where they plan their strokes so that the ball will go in at such and such angle in the streets of India for a run to be counted, or deliberately hitting the ball in the gutters, so that the opposition will have to pick up a dirty ball and wipe it dry before having another go at you, or even sometihing as simple as rushing through the overs to beat the setting tropical sun in order to finish the game? Are these factors a part of the instant success India and Pakistan have got in the format?

[Lurker]

Are these factors a part of the instant success India and Pakistan have got in the format?

I dont think it is the street smart cricket as such Shwetabh. I do however think that a reason why India and Pakistan have been successful in 20/20 format is because of the sheer number of strokeplayers that these countries possess, specially India. And if you consider that for most 20/20 games the pitches are hardly the best for bowlers it only adds on the benefit scale. Take a look at this. The following is the fastest strike rates till date in Test cricket: http://www.sportstats.com.au/hotscore.html Out of 15 fastest scorers, 1/3rd(total of 5) are from India. No wonder Indians have done good at this format. xxx

[Guest dada_rocks]

I dont think it is the street smart cricket as such Shwetabh. I do however think that a reason why India and Pakistan have been successful in 20/20 format is because of the sheer number of strokeplayers that these countries possess' date= specially India. And if you consider that for most 20/20 games the pitches are hardly the best for bowlers it only adds on the benefit scale. Take a look at this. The following is the fastest strike rates till date in Test cricket: http://www.sportstats.com.au/hotscore.html Out of 15 fastest scorers, 1/3rd(total of 5) are from India. No wonder Indians have done good at this format. xxx

:two_thumbs_up: People have been calling that talent for quite sometime.. due to short nature of the match things like mind-games mental toughness etc in the long run doesn't come into picture..

[Predator_05]

I don't know about other subcon teams, but Indian batsmen learn how to hit out from a very young age. Their gut instinct is to attack and hit the ball freely. It comes naturally to them; whereas more orthodox type Englishmen and Aussies play those big shots forcefully.

[Lurker]

To add to what has already been mentioned up above. 1) First International opener to hit over the fielders top in 15 overs. -- Krish Sreekhanth. Yes Greatbatch and Jayasurya honed this skill but Krish was the original. 2) First batsman to score 6 fours in an over. -- Sandeep Patil (off Bob Willis) 3) First batsman to hit 4 consecutive sixes -- Kapil Dev. 4) Batsman with 15 plus SR in test and another 12 in LOI before slam bang started. -- Kapil dev(over Richards) You dont need to dig too far to see how Indians were always one of the stronger force when it comes to strokeplay. xxx

[novpj]

Guys lets face it the shorter version makes the game more like a coint toss. Matters of mm's which tend to get averaged away in a longer duration mean much more in 20/20. Eg., yesterday Clarke missed Robin's catch and Yuvraj escaped being caught by brad Haddin by a matter of few mms - any of these could have changed the course of the match

[gopsy]

the shorter the game the less physically stronger you need to be, trust me that works tremendously to our advantage in terms of bowling, it neutralizes other teams like Australia, Southafrica. mere dot ball bowlers are enough than even a really really good bowler say like Bret Lee to create pressure, and i see that also neutralizes our weakness in the bowling department. in fact dot balls are like what boundaries are for batsmen. I was amused when Mathew Hayden left alone a couple of R.P's balls. i thought it was not a good idea to do that. So you are right , it works to our advantage , and more importantly for me, it makes cricket more competitive than what it's been for a long time now. Ex gully cricketer here.

[Chaos]

no, but none of our players are like big hitters (except sehwah, dhoni and yuv). But we only played one 20/20 and been to finals.

[Anakin]

Shorter versions will always favor the underdogs/ or lesser teams more than ODIs, same way ODIs offer more chances than test matches.

[yoda]

every team is trying figure out this format. too early to predict as to who it suits. i for one thought it will suit the more atheletic teams better and it has already been proven wrong.