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Is the bouncer still a weapon in T20, or just a liability?
We pulled every short ball from the last two seasons. The numbers are more counterintuitive than the commentary suggests.
Meera Iyer
2 days ago · 12 min read
It's one of the oldest pieces of T20 folklore: the bouncer is a wicket-taking ball. Except, when you count every short delivery across 244 matches and 18,000+ balls, the picture gets strange fast.
Bouncers in the powerplay go for 11.2 RPO and take a wicket every 29 balls. Bouncers in the death go for 14.1 RPO and take a wicket every 22. Those two numbers are doing battle inside every captain's head.
We went looking for the actual break-even. It's not where you think.
About the writer
Meera Iyer
Senior cricket writer at khelooyar2. Reach out on any story, any time.