T20 WC 2022: 5 pacers to watch out for
In T20 cricket, bowlers always have the toughest job. It’s not easy to consistently bowl economical spells when batters are trying for big shots on every ball. Compare to spinners, pace bowlers have the toughest job to open an innings and bowling in death overs, which comes with tremendous pressure and expectations from the fans.
Mitchell Starc
Australian left-arm pacer has been dominating red-ball cricket for the last few years and is always up his game in mega tournaments. Starc forms the best pace partnership with Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood at the upcoming 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia. He consistently bowls above 140 kmph deliveries and tremors batters with his accurate yorkers in death overs. He took six wickets against West Indies in the recent T20I series and one wicket against England in the second T20I. Starc took nine wickets in the last edition of the tournament and will be more effective at his home conditions.
Josh Hazlewood
Hazlewood ranks first in the current ICC T20I Bowlers chart and second in the ODI bowlers’ chart. He ranks 12th in the red-ball cricket bowling chart which makes his one of the most consistent pacers across formats. He took 11 wickets in seven matches at an impressive economy rate of 7.29 in the 2021 edition of the tournament. Hazlewood has taken 53 wickets in just 37 T20I matches and maintains an excellent average of 19.94.
Mark Wood
The English speedster missed the majority of the 2022 year with injuries and recently returned to competitive cricket on the Pakistan tour. He featured in only two matches in a seven-match T20I series against Pakistan but managed to take six wickets, three in each. He consistently bowled over 150 kmph deliveries and troubled top order with Babar Azam’s wicket on both occasions. He continued that momentum against Australia, where he took three wickets again, including David Warner’s, to win the player of the match award.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
The experienced right-arm medium pacer doesn’t provide a threatening pace like other names in this chart but without a doubt is one of the best swing bowlers. Bhuvneshwar has been India’s go-to bowler in crunch situations in the T20 games for years. He currently leads wickets chart for his nation with 85 wickets in 78 T20I innings at an impressive economy rate of 7.02.
Trent Boult
The left-arm Kiwi pacer ranks first in the current ICC ODI Bowlers chart and remains the highest-ranked T20I pace bowler for his team ahead of the upcoming 2022 T20 World Cup. Boult was the leading wicket-taker as a pace bowler in the 2022 edition of the tournament with 13 wickets in just seven games with two big wickets of David Warner and Aaron Finch in the final. Boult took ten wickets against Australia in the recent ODI series. He has taken 66 wickets in 50 T20I matches and maintains an impressive economy rate of 7.96, despite bowling in death overs.
