IPL 2021: Why the player of the match award is vastly biased towards batsmen?

Wow! Virat Kohli is a genius! Glenn Maxwell is a beast! Rohit Sharma looks so elegant while playing pull shot. Rishabh Pant is fearless. AB de Villiers’ batting is unreal. Yes, these are the reactions from the commentators and the fans when batsmen show off their skills in the middle. Yes, batting is at another level in the Indian Premier League (IPL), especially in the ongoing season.

But what about the bowlers? Have you ever heard anyone saying good things about the bowlers for a long time. Not often. It is not your mistake. Cricket has certainly become a batsman’s game and though bowlers are trying their best to evolve themselves, accolades don’t come their way often.

If the ongoing IPL season is considered, that’s what has been happening. Player of the Match award is a way to recognise the best effort from a player in a particular match and after 22 matches, there have been many instances when a bowler has been robbed off that award. Why? Because a ‘Batsman’ played a good knock on a tough pitch to bat on.

How many times Batsmen, Bowler and All-Rounder won MoM awards so far in IPL 2021?

In the IPL 2021, pitches so far have been tough to bat on, especially in Chennai and Ahmedabad also hasn’t been kind to batsmen so far. But bowlers have put up special performances as well and it is their skill as well apart from the pitch which helped them pick more wickets.

OK then, the same should be applied when a bowler performs well on flat pitches. No! That doesn’t happen. Why? Because a batsman plays a mind-blowing knock and deserves all the accolades. This is where logic gets defied. When you think that a batsman should be applauded for his resilience on a tough pitch and odds are against them, then why isn’t a bowler appreciated with a Player of the Match award on a batting beauty when he does well?

There have been a few instances this season, when the Player of the Match award has tilted more often towards batsmen.

What happened in high-scoring matches?

The pitch at the Wankhede Stadium and at times, the MA Chidambaram stadium have produced high-scoring matches this season so far. While there have been instances when a particular batsman definitely deserved to win the Man of the Match award for his exceptional knock, one felt a bowler had to win it as they had bowled exceptionally well when the conditions were against them.

One such game was between Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals when Sanju Samson’s heroic 119-run knock almost took the Royals home in the 222-run chase. Yes, it was a special knock. But why was he given the Player of the Match award? First of all, the winning team has to be preferred always first and if there is no one else, a player from the losing side can win the award.

In this case, Samson won as the experts felt that he played a special knock. But everyone forgot that he was dropped thrice and it wasn’t a chanceless innings. On the flip side, the Punjab seamer Arshdeep Singh finished with the figures of 3/35 in his four overs including a special last over, when all felt that Samson was in the zone to win the game for his team.

In a match, where 438 runs were scored at a whopping run-rate of 11, Arshdeep stood out conceding 8.80 runs per over and won a game for his team dismissing Manan Vohra, Shivam Dube and Samson.

Instances when bowler deserved to win MoM awards on flat pitches

Another instance when a bowler was robbed off the award was in the game between Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals. On the back of Shikhar Dhawan’s 85 off 54 deliveries, DC chased down 189 with ease. Obviously, Dhawan won the Player of the Match award. But when you chase at Wankhede, aren’t the batsmen expected to do well and get the job done for their team?

On the flip side, nobody literally talked about Avesh Khan’s performance. He bowled upfront with the new ball and then at death conceding only 23 runs in his four overs while picking crucial wickets of Faf du Plessis and MS Dhoni. Didn’t he deserve to win the Player of the Match award for bowling superbly on a pitch good for batting where almost 400 runs were scored? Well, I leave it up to you to decide.

What happened on pitches where batting was tough?

Interestingly, in the 10 matches where batting was tough in Chennai, on five occasions batsmen were given the Man of the Match awards when a bowler had made a telling impact in the game and deserved to win the award. One such instance was the game between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians. The five-time champions defended 150 to win the game by 13 runs.

Kieron Pollard won the Player of the Match award for his unbeaten 35 off 22 balls. Yes, it was a brilliant knock on a tough pitch. But it was Rahul Chahar who dismissed Manish Pandey, Virat Singh and Abhishek Sharma to derail SRH’s chase when they were comfortably sitting at 71/1 at one stage. His figures of 3/19 were the best in the game. Didn’t he deserve to win the award?

In another game, Punjab Kings restricted MI to 131 runs in their 20 overs and ended up chasing down the target easily with nine wickets. Who won the Man of the Match? KL Rahul. Why? For his unbeaten 60 off 52 balls. In the same game, Ravi Bishnoi returned with the figures of 2/21 picking crucial scalps of Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav, the two match-winners, who have the ability to take the game away on any day. Why didn’t Bishnoi win the Player of the Match award?

Instances when bowler deserved to win MoM awards on tough pitches

I have no grudges with batsmen winning the Player of the Match awards at all. But there has to be some logic behind. If a batsman is being awarded for his exceptional batting on tough pitches, then the same logic has to be applied for the bowlers performing exceptionally well on flat pitches. But cricket has so much become a batsman’s game, people have certainly forgotten bowlers who give their everything and come up with variations.

If this continues, it would be better to have bowling machines and then keep applauding batsmen all the time!