Bowlers to Take Centre Stage at 2009 ICC T20 World Cup

The stage is set, the world is watching and the first ball is ready to be bowled and it looks like it’s the bowlers who will dominate this year’s Twenty20 World Cup in England.

It has been opined that the shortened form of the game is geared too much towards the batsmen but in reality, that is where the fireworks happen. Fans would rather watch a batsmen flay a bowler to all parts of the ground than watch a bowler send down six dot balls. It is just common sense.

However, for those cricket betting punters keen to make some money on this tournament, keep a close eye on the bowlers and just how each team uses them.

When T20 first hit the global scene, it was still treated like a traditional form of cricket, the opening bowlers were quick, the spinners came on in the middle overs and the openers returned to finish it all off.

Now teams are opting for spinners to take the new pill and the quicks are more about variation than out and out pace. The other thing that is quickly becoming evident, the new formula for T20 if you will, is to institute bowling changes very regularly, maybe a new change every over.

It is a clever ploy because it doesn’t allow batsmen to get their eye in and feel the rhythm of the game, which is where Twenty20 cricket is won – in the momentum of the game.

India are the masters of this style of play and use bowling changes to great affect and have a host of slow bowlers to make opposition batsmen force at the ball as opposed to using the pace of the ball against the quicks.

With the likes of Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh all willing and able to dismiss wayward batsmen, it is easy to see why India are favorites to win this year.