CricDigs Blogs

Those that have seen the 81 runs off 47 balls of Sanath Jayasuriya yesterday and the 85 runs of just 35 balls of Adam Gilchrist shouldn’t have any wrong ideas about the impact of age on T20 matches. Age doesn’t slow down players, slow down their reflexes, or slow down their running between the wickets. Gilchrist kept wickets, captained the side, and batted like a man possessed. That could be exhausting even for a teenager. But Gilchrist found the multi tasking very challenging and energizing. Earning the “Player of the Series” award in IPL is no mean achievement. Gilchrist did it at the age of 35.

Old horses are racing well in the shortest version of the game. We have seen it in the IPL matches where Hayden, Gilchrist, Gibbs, Kumble did exceptionally well. Dravid, Tendulkar, Muralitharan, and Shane Warne also did reasonably good. They didn’t try out McGrath. He would also have proven that he hadn’t rusted.

Cricketers in their 30s, even the likes of Jayasuriya that are touching 40, find it easier to stay on par or play better than the twenty some things in the T20 matches. Remember, some of these players still play test and ODI. So it is not like they are some spent force.

We have Gibbs, Kallis, Muralitharan, Jayasuriya, and Misbah-Ul-Haque playing in the ICC T20 World Cup. Can anyone do a Gilchrist? It would be interesting to see.