The lull after the storm

The opening night of the IPL seemed ominous: Brendon McCullum hit 10 fours and 13 sixes, one of them an outrageous paddle, on his way to 158, a record Twenty20 score. The innings raised visions of the IPL being an unprecedented run feast but the 35 games since have only seen four hundreds - and Sanath Jayasuriya's against Chennai Super Kings on Wednesday night was the first in May. More batting stats: There were seven 200-plus totals in April but only one in May.

The slowdown seems to be a combination of factors - the changing nature of the pitches, bowlers becoming smarter, the departure of some big-hitting batsmen and the increasing pressure on the batsmen as the tournament moves closer to the semi-final stage and the high stakes involved become clearer.

The last point appears to be the clincher for Daljit Singh, the IPL's ground and pitches committee head. "I don't see any team touching 240 again," he says. "As we get closer to the semi-finals, the competition has got fiercer and that has affected the teams' consciousness. The carefree approach at the start is not there. Everybody is looking at points and I do not see 240 again in this tournament unless the team has already qualified for the semi-finals and just have a bang out there. As long as the qualification pressure is still there, they won't be playing that freely."

Chennai's 240 in Mohali, the highest total of the tournament so far, was largely thanks to Michael Hussey's 54-ball 116. Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds exploded too but the departure of the Australians and New Zealanders (especially McCullum) has drained the tournament of some beefy hitters. Those big-hitters were also fortunate to make the most of belters, rather than the current ones that have wilted in the May heat and got slower and lower.

TA Sekhar, cricket operations chief of Delhi Daredevils and a former fast bowler, cites the changing nature of the pitches as one of the prime reasons. "It's not as if they have deteriorated or broken up but due to the heat, the pitches have become drier and as a result the wickets have become a touch slower. The ball is also not coming on to the bat as well. The bowlers are exploiting the slow tracks."

Delhi's batsmen, led by Virender Sehwag, were restricted to 156 by the Rajasthan Royals on May 11. Shane Warne rested fast bowler Sohail Tanvir and opened the bowling with the more gentle pace of Dimitri Mascarenhas. "We had plans for Sehwag," Warne said. "We bowled slow to him. The bowlers intentionally kept the ball slow." Sekhar feels the pitch also suited their style of the bowling. "They had a spinning wicket in the earlier game but for this one, they had a slow track."

Are the pitches being specially prepared to be conducive to the home teams? Daljit doesn't agree. "By and large, it has not been the case. The curators have been told to keep the Twenty20 format in mind. I know the franchises are important but the ground control is with the local associations. And there are awards for the best curators. There are seven points for pitch, two for the outfield and one for the main square - how they are looking after the other pitches. The match referee and umpires are marking the forms after every game. Apart from one game in Kolkata, the quality of the pitches has been great.

"If you get a score of 160 it's eight runs per over, 180 is nine per over and so, anything over 160-170 is still bloody good. Importantly, the bowlers have learnt to adapt. Let's give credit to them."

A fair point; the bowlers certainly have adapted well, though, contrary to the popular perception, they haven't been firing in too many yorkers. In 36 games the yorkers have constituted approximately a little over 2% out of the total balls bowled while a majority - around 61% - have been on a good length and nearly 18% of the deliveries have hit the short of length. So it's the slight changes in pace which have been crucial. Several cutters have been bowled, fingers have been rolled over the seam, the ball has been held across the seam and quite a few regular bouncers have been bowled.

Also, as the pitches have got slower, there have been a few slow bouncers as well that have gripped the surface, turned, and bounced awkwardly. The batsmen have tried to find room by moving about in the crease but the bowlers have tried to cramp them by shifting length and line or tried to mess up their timing by changing pace.

L Balaji, who bagged a hat-trick in Chennai's game against Kings XI Punjab, believes it's about constantly changing things. "I have played just couple of games and so I am not qualified enough to make a comment but what I am trying to do is not be predictable and make the batsmen think."

Balaji has bowled quite a few slower ones and punctuated them with sharp bouncers. Parthiv Patel, the Chennai opener, thinks the bowlers have sorted out the length to bowl. "Also, the pitches have become slower and slower, so shot making is not that easy."

Venkatesh Prasad, the former India opening bowler who works with the national team as a bowling coach, believes the bowlers have become smarter. "No doubt the wickets are now on the slower side but more importantly the scores have come down as the bowlers know now which is the variation that can give them the dot ball. So most matches you see bowlers delivering at least two slower balls along with the shorter ones, which has not allowed the batsman complete leeway.

"At the beginning of the tournament no team knew what would be the par score and, perhaps, that prompted batsmen to go after the bowling. Now they realise 180 is the par score rather than the 220s we saw earlier. Also the bowlers have realised 170 can be defended so it is getting more competitive. So the bowlers are getting cleverer and teams have better game plans."

When Twenty20 started, it was considered that the bowlers were under more pressure but it's the batsmen who are feeling the pinch now as they are expected to hit sixes and fours. Leaking eight to ten runs per over is no longer considered a crime and the bowlers have started to breathe easier now. The delicious irony is that while the modern game is tilted towards batsmen, cricket's latest version seems to be witnessing a far closer contest.