Former Pakistan pacer Wasim Akram has said that he is very lucky not to be an active cricketer at the moment. Speaking to Sportskeeda, Akram said that bowlers in the IPL accept lucrative contracts only to be destroyed by opposition batting units.
Wasim Akram, who previously served as KKR’s bowling coach, also commented on the 250-plus scores that are being scored quite regularly in IPL 2024.
All the 200+ carnage that took place in IPL 2024
It all started with the game in between Sunrisers Hyderabad and that Mumbai Indians at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium where the Orange Army scored 277 in the first innings.
Led by Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma and Heinrich Klaasen, SRH recorded their highest ever IPL total. Then, a few weeks later, Kolkata Knight Riders showed their batting prowess by posting the second-highest IPL total score of 272 against Delhi Capitals. DC were once again at the receiving end as MI scored 234 runs in just 4 days.
A week later, RCB, which held the record for highest IPL total in 2013 until the SRH-MI match, felt the same as Pune Warriors India. All five SRH batters who batted at Chinnaswamy that evening had a strike rate of 150 with the lowest being 154 and the highest being 370 as the Orange Army scored 287.
In response, RCB scored the most runs in a chase – 262, but lost by 25 runs. Then KKR lost to Rajasthan Royals despite scoring 223 points. Four days later, SRH found themselves in that carnage mode again and Delhi once again found themselves at the receiving end. Hyderabad had scored 100 runs in the first five overs and it looked like they would easily reach the 300 mark.
But fortunately for Delhi and their fans, SRH were restricted to 266 runs while DC scored 199 runs. So, the IPL 2024 season was nothing short of a bloodbath and also proves the fact that you can score more than 250 in the first innings and win the game. Could this be a formula during the ICC T20 World Cup 2024? We will see.
Wasim Akram says scoring 100 runs in 5 overs is illegal
On this note, Wasim Akram thanked God that he is no longer an active cricketer, otherwise he would have been the recipient too. He feels that a score of 270+ is similar to scoring 450-500 runs in ODI cricket. Wasim Akram also said that it was okay to watch such games once or twice, but seeing the same thing happen more than three-four times was a scary sight for bowlers.
“Thank God I don’t play cricket in this era. I mean, they score 270 in 20 overs. That’s about 450 or 500 in a 50 overs game. If it happened once it was fine, but this happened three times four times, which shows how powerful the blow is. – Wasim Akram said on Sportskeeda.
Wasim Akram then went on to say that scoring 100 runs in 5 overs is illegal and claimed that bowlers in the IPL accept money to get destroyed by batters.
“It is illegal to score 100 runs in 5 overs. How can this happen? Even if you bowl with a full toss, it is difficult. For bowlers, it has become like taking money here and getting destroyed. I feel for bowlers in this format. – Wasim Akram concluded.