The overseas, six-happy finishers were the flavour on Sunday. If they happen to possess a second skill, their stocks would just shoot through the roof.
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(From left) Liam Livingstone, Tim David, Odean Smith.
Liam Livingstone, the most expensive overseas purchase of this Indian Premier League auction with Punjab Kings spending Rs 11.5 crore on him, has one complaint. “There are no 700 days in a year,” he told The Guardian last year. He wants to play Test cricket, the dream of his life, but wonders where he would squeeze time for his red-ball predilections. Over the last two years, he has been the busiest T20 gun-for-hire around, sixes rolling as fast as the cheques to possess him. Two editions of the Pakistan Super League, a couple of IPLs, two Big Bash League seasons in Australia, South Africa’s Mzansi Super League, the Vitality Blast, and The Hundred, besides national duty, have made his life faster, just like the sixes that gush out of his bat.
Though his two previous seasons in the IPL have been lacklustre — his nine outings fetching only 114 runs – Livingstone is one of the most voracious six-hitters in the world. Last year, he launched 82 sixes in T20 cricket, the second-most by any international cricketer. He strikes one six every 11 balls he faces, a four every ninth ball. In club cricket, he once clouted 350 runs off only 138 balls, smashing 34 fours and 27 sixes. His most recent feat is the fastest T20 hundred by an Englishman, when he struck one in 42 balls against a Pakistan attack that featured Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain and Haris Rauf last year. By the way, he also pulls off some stunning acrobatic catches and bowls both leg-spin and off-spin.
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Ae kaam changa hua, now sit back and relax! 😌#IPLAuction #SaddaPunjab #PunjabKings #TATAIPLAuction @liaml4893 pic.twitter.com/JkibDPlpqz
— Punjab Kings (@PunjabKingsIPL) February 13, 2022
But it’s his power-hitting reputation that earned him the millions. Power-hitting is the most inflation-proof currency in T20 cricket. Natural, unabashed six hitters are a rare commodity. There are stroke-makers who could hit sixes, but few with the instinct to hit sixes, more so in the finisher’s role. Livingstone could don multiple roles, but is most dangerous as a finisher, whether his team is setting or chasing a target. He could come straightaway and unroll sixes with those long levers, with a fusion of power and timing. Catch some of his YouTube reels — there are sixes of all sorts. Clubs, heaves, slogs, sweeps, drives, cut and the odd scoop and ramp (though improvised shots are not his thing).
Finishers of such ferocity are a rare breed. Andre Russell has lost some of his fabled prowess; Kieron Pollard consumes time before breaking free these days; Chris Morris has retired, David Miller’s powers have waned; age and injuries have diluted Dwayne Bravo’s hitting instincts. Hence, there are just a handful around, like Hardik Pandya and Glenn Maxwell. It’s a rarer group in Indian cricket — and those around were exuberantly swooped, both Shahrukh Khan and Rahul Tewatia pouched Rs 9 crore apiece – where even the national team is frantically searching for a successor to MS Dhoni and fussing over the fitness of Pandya.
In high demand
Hence, the overseas, six-happy finishers were the flavour on Sunday. If they happen to possess a second skill, their stocks would just shoot through the roof.
Another beneficiary of this skewed demand-supply situation was Singapore-born Australian cricketer Tim David, a hard-hitting batsman who bowls off-spin. Mumbai Indians splurged Rs 8.25 crore (from a base price of Rs 40 lakh) to pocket him to fill the finisher’s role vacated by Pandya. “David is going to partner (Kieron) Pollard at No. 6. We have been tracking Tim and he had success at RCB last year. Looking forward to seeing him and Pollard finishing the innings for us,” said Akash Ambani, the franchise’s owner. David has an eye-popping career T20 strike rate of 159. It has been better this year — in BBL, he racked up 218 runs at a strike rate of 163.9 while in PSL, he plundered 221 runs at 206.54, besides an average of 55, mostly batting down the order. He joined RCB mid-season last year and failed to make any impact whatsoever, but was too irresistible a talent for Mumbai.
🚨 आला रे 🚨
Tim David 🇸🇬
💰: ₹ 8.25 CR#OneFamily #MumbaiIndians #AalaRe #TATAIPLAuction #IPLAuction— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) February 13, 2022
Clearing the boundary like a 𝐁𝐎𝐒𝐒 😎
More such चाबूक shots coming 🔜#OneFamily #MumbaiIndians #AalaRe #TATAIPLAuction #IPLAuctionpic.twitter.com/Bq6waoS7g2
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) February 13, 2022
Punjab Kings, ever blamed for a shortage of six-hitters, didn’t stop with Livingstone. They aggressively bid for Jamaican all-rounder Odean Smith, a robust hitter who could consistently clock upwards of 140kph with the ball, and gobbled him for Rs 6 crore. He once split Gayle’s bat into two while he reeled out 36 off 18 balls in the third ODI against India to remind prospective buyers of his batting potential.
Fellow Jamaican Rovman Powell too found a deal worth Rs 2.8 crore with Delhi Capitals. It could turn out to be a steal, as he has been in red hot form and recently smashed 107 runs off 53 balls against England. So murderous was he that the ball had to changed three times during the innings. He can also bowl canny medium-pace and Capitals would believe they have unearthed their own Russell. Sunrisers Hyderabad, who fiercely bid for most players, eventually landed Guyanese all-rounder Romario Shepherd for Rs 7.75 crore. His T20 numbers are staggering — a strike rate of 160 with the bat at an average of 26 and an average of 21 with the ball, though he bleeds eight an over. Like Powell, he prospered in the recent series against England, and once came at No. 7 to hammer 44 off 28 balls.
Even less-consistent finishers such as Matthew Wade (Rs 2.4 crore) and Miller (Rs 3 crore) found buyers, stretching the theme of the day, wherein teams fought fiercely for six-hitting colossuses. The metaphor of the day was Livingstone, for whom the coming years would turn only busier.
