Is the J&K team a powerhouse in T20 Cricket?
Ather Bashir
Cricket has millions of followers worldwide. The amount of craze this game has generated in our region is second to none. It is the newest and the most exciting format i.e, T20 which has helped cricket to increase its reach worldwide. However, T20 is often labeled as a batsman’s game given the amount of luxury a batter enjoys in this format of the game. Although the rules and the number of players are the same as the other formats, the tendency to score big tilts it towards the batsmen. Batsmen go out there all guns blazing and start hitting the ball from the word go. T20 cricket takes away the fear of batting long unlike the 50 over format where batsmen adopt a conservative and proactive approach keeping in mind the number of overs they are to bat. There is not much responsibility of batting deep in a T20 game as one descent partnership is enough to consume the major part of 20 overs.
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J&K without any doubt is very rich in T20 talent both in quality and quantity. Our team can give any domestic team a run for their money in this format. Our batsmen know how to score big in the T20s. However the desire of scoring big and scoring quickly has yielded more negatives than positives. Most of our batsmen have developed a kind of technique that often supports leg-side shot play. This technique is not suitable if one desires of being flexible to play different formats. This is the reason that we have specialists for each format at the topmost level.
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A ball pitched outside off has more chances of getting to the fence if played on the offside rather than the legside. This is a simple rule and is applicable irrespective of the format but the desire of hitting big has somehow made us forget this rule. We are natural leg side hitters and we also do generate more power towards the leg side but we need to understand the importance of timing and balance in batting. The leg side technique in its long run is very much vulnerable. On a pitch that offers seam and swing, this technique has more limitations than benefits. We have seen our best players struggle on those kinds of pitches. 
Over obsession with the T20 format has also brought us to a point of almost no return. We do not have a balance between the batsmen and the bowlers. We do not produce enough quality stars in the bowling department. A batsman in a T20 game goes out with a psychological advantage. T20 format demands bowlers to take 10 wickets in 20 overs which is cruel on part of a bowler. This has lead to fewer kids choosing bowling as their premier art. 
Batsmen also need to understand that power-hitting is not all about hitting the ball on only one side of the wicket. You can generate power on either side of the wicket and the best way to do that is to play each ball on its merit. Keep your head still, balance yourself, and then hit hard. Playing by this simple method will enable a batsman to perform in all formats. This will ultimately lead us to produce stars who can prolong their careers at the highest level. If we analyze the performance of the Jk team in the last couple of years, they haven’t done badly in a longer format too but with time, players and their craze to get a contract in IPL is diminishing our chances of doing good in the Ranji trophy. In nutshell, the JK team is developing as a powerhouse in T20 cricket, and future, they are going to get strong at this. The impact of local T20 cricket is also one of the factors to it.
