"In the UAE, power-hitting gets nullified almost completely, because rarely are you going to get a game where five batters are going to get quick 30s and 40s to get to a team total of 180-200. Nowhere else in the world are the T20 pitches of the kind there are in the UAE. Even in Pakistan, you largely can take the bowlers on from ball one," he added.Emphasising the role of anchors, where one player bats through the innings and the other bats around him, the former Pakistan cricketer said that a 180-plus score is quite achievable if teams have this strategy going into the match."The way you get 180 here if one of your batters becomes an anchor and bats through the innings while the others bat around him. If you're really brave, you can have two anchors, who can bat for long and raise the run rate towards the end. The combination of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan can work in Pakistan's favour in this case," he added.He said the biggest drawback for power-hitters on these wickets was that the ball doesn't come on to the bat in the middle overs, making hitting the moment you arrive at the crease, tough."On surfaces like these, if power-hitters walk in to bat in the middle overs, they find the ball is not coming onto the bat and it's not easy to start hitting right away. Most teams have power-hitters and lower-order players who like the ball coming onto the bat. They like to play big shots against faster bowlers rather than face spinners, especially left-arm spinners bowling into the stumps," he opined.
--IANSakm/
(Disclaimer: This post has been auto published from IANS news agency without any modification to the text and has not been reviewed by editor)
