Endangered bowlers face the prospect of extinction

In an era where the average bowler goes for anything between 5 and 6 runs to the over, it is no wonder that there is not a single contemporary bowler in the list of players with the 10 best economy rates over an ODI career. It is therefore unfair if someone were to make a comparison between a bowler giving away less than four runs in another era with someone who is giving away nearly six per over in the modern era. The circumstances surrounding the game of cricket have changed far too substantively to even allow it to be remotely meaningful.

Jade Dernbach has an economy rate of 6.35 after 24 ODIs, unthinkable in the bygone era

The most economic bowlers in ODI cricket are all from a bygone era that seems more and more surreal with the passage of time. Joel Garner (WI, 3.09 runs per over), Max Walker (Aus, 3.25), Mike Hendrick (Eng, 3.27), Bob Willis (Eng, 3.28) and Richard Hadlee (NZ, 3.30) are the ones with the best economy rates in limited overs cricket. Unfortunately, today’s bowlers can only dream of anything remotely resembling those rates. In fact, you will find it hard to find a contemporary player in the entire list of bowlers with good economy rates.

In the recent series between India and Australia, 3,596 runs were made by the teams at a rate of 6.64 to the over. Incredibly, the teams surpassed 300 in nine of the eleven completed innings during the series and 350 was passed on five occasions. And that is not all – the batters accounted for a whopping 107 sixes in the series, 45 more than the previous mark of 62 in a bilateral series of this nature. As if that weren’t enough, the series also contained a collection of nine centuries, over just five completed matches.

The best bowling effort for the Aussies came from Mitchell Johnson, who went for 5.68 runs to the over. Our own Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the most economical bowler for India, fared only a tad better – conceding 5.44 runs to the over. It was a merciless mauling that came to a gory climax at the Chinnaswamy stadium where the teams combined to score a whopping 38 sixes. It was an ugly slugfest that resembled anything but cricket.

It is often a mystery how cricket has survived myriads of controversial moments to remain so hugely popular amongst the audiences. While they have tolerated corruption and incompetence for many years, it is unlikely that they shall suffer this promiscuity of batsmen with the same steady minded devotion. At some point, the excessive plundering of runs is bound to turn off vast sections of the audience. It is imperative that the game acts well before such a situation presents itself via empty stadia and reluctant sponsors.

Cricket is at its best when there is a genuine duel between bat and ball. For all its explosive action, the game in Bengaluru with its 709 runs was no patch on some brilliant games where double figure knocks were a rarity. One that shall always come to mind is the classic between India and Pakistan at Sharjah.

It was a Rothmans Cup match in the summer of 1985, when India were skittled out for a paltry 125 runs. Even as disappointed fans turned off their televisions in anticipation of an easy victory for Pakistan, they crumbled from 35-1 to 41-5, raising excitement to a fever pitch. Saleem Malik and Rameez Raja sought to steady the chase, but when Ravi Shastri had the former caught at slip by Sunil Gavaskar he set off another precarious slide.

Eventually, Pakistan were dismissed for 87 to give India a most famous victory. The total runs in that match were just three more than Rohit Sharma‘s 209 in Bengaluru, but the match was way more riveting than anything that was on offer in the series decider last week.

In the past, bowlers only needed a good pep talk from their captain to come charging in to defend even a meagre score. Today, they need a seasoned hypnotist to somehow convince them that a mountain of runs can indeed be protected from a mindless onslaught from the batsmen. That is a sad commentary on the state of bowlers in the game of cricket.

The ICC has to either allow more freedom of expression with the ball or prepare to send bowlers into a conservation park to preserve them as relics from the past. There is one outside Adelaide, meant for insects, that might be willing to house a few of this tormented species.