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Zain ul Hassan Rabbani

Latest posts by Zain ul Hassan Rabbani (see all)

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Pinch hitting has a lot to do with the Twenty20 cricket format, which is a form of limited-overs cricket. In this format, players need to go for a boundary in every or one after another ball. Openers are meant to build a partnership by taking the run rate of the team to the required level. Cricket is getting more entertaining and aggressive day by day and pinch-hitting is one of the antagonistic, innovative and highly praised terms in t-20 cricket. 

What exactly is pinch Hitting in terms of cricket

Cricket, more than most sports, is full of manifestations and phrases designed to bewilder the newcomer (and often even the more seasoned follower).

Pinch hitter is a baseball term for a player who comes in for someone altered out of the line-up. In cricket, pinch hitter or slogger is the conventional term for a batsman (not a substitute, unlike in baseball) who promoted up the batting number to score quick runs. This is an important move in T20 International cricket, with its occurrence in one-day international cricket far less regular.

In brief, “pinch hitter” usually cites Na contentious batsman striding up the batting order from his normal place, used in circumstances where scoring runs rapidly becomes more significant than protecting wickets in the script.(Don’t confuse this term with “night watchman” which is when a more conservative and difficult to dismiss tailender is stimulated for a wholly different reason).

Also, read: An official update about the Retirement of Shoaib Malik

Importance of Pinch hitting in T20 Cricket

Pinch hitting owns the utmost and huge prestige in T20 cricket. In terms of percentage, it is mostly used while chasing the target. Nevertheless, its importance can’t be neglected while batting first. It enables the team to lessen the required run rate while chasing and rambles the run rate while playing initially.

Endeavouring to score runs quickly involves playing more aggressive shots and thus an increased probability of being dismissed. It is commonly considered unwise and not related for a top-order batsman to attempt this. Therefore, a lower-order batsman (such as a bowler or bowling allrounder) is sometimes stimulated. There is less significance placed on his wicket, so he can play with more independence.

Usually, a tailender who can hit the ball hard is promoted up the order to swing the bat at just about every delivery to increase the run rate. If he gets out doing so, so be it.

Which players are best suited for pinch-hitting in Cricket?

We have seen Muhammad Waseem Junior doing it for Islamabad United in the PSL 7, David Willey doing it for RCB this year while  Mitchell McClenaghan was a regular pinch hitter in the IPL, R Ashwin, Jofra Archer, Sam Curran, Sunil Narine, and Shardul Thakur have done it as well over the last five years, Mitchell Shatner doing it for New-zealand While Jason holder is a regular pinch hitter for West-indies. So any player who can whack the boundaries can do it for his team else; there is no adequate eligibility for doing so.

As in most of the cases during a power play, Fast bowlers are being used, so Most of the pinch hitters are also fast bowlers as they can comprehend the mentality of the opponent bowler.

Pinch Hitting can also go against the doer team in cricket

As said earlier, pinch hitters are not regular batsmen. They are not even regular hitters, so they exempt themselves from the consequences. Sometimes It can go against the team who is doing so. For Instance, If a pinch hitter comes in and tries to hit the ball and can not do so for 5-6 deliveries and doesn’t even rotate the strike and gets out on the succeeding ball. Eventually, he will make the run rate down and will create more pressure on the batting team. Nonetheless, it has great significance and can’t be denied.

We have witnessed it many times. During the PSL 7 Final, Asif Afridi was sent in the place of Tim David while chasing and he played some balls and didn’t even disturb the score much, got out and boasted the pressure of his team.

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