Cricket has transformed itself from a slow momentum building sport to one which delivers instant thrill and entertainment in less time. This revolution came in the 1980s with the advent of One Day International cricket and later stepped up in 2008 with the propagation of the T20 format.
The winner of a cricket match is decided based on which team scores the most runs. When the innings nears its conclusion, teams try to hit as many runs as they can during this time. Thus, batters resort to an aggressive approach wherein their goal is to increase the scoring rate. The balls bowled in this phase of the innings are referred as the death overs.
In T20 cricket, overs 16 to 20 are the death overs whereas in One Day International cricket these are between the 41st and 50th overs.
Since the advent of limited overs cricket, it became imperative for teams to have a specialist death bowler. This bowler is responsible for reducing the scoring rate during the later part of the innings. The batters whom these bowlers are up against are called the finishers, who aim to finish the innings on a high.
The ones who bowl at the death are seam or pace bowlers. Spin bowlers are rarely used in the death due to their slow pace. For pace bowlers, a yorker is an ideal delivery to restrict the flow of runs. Additionally, a ball delivered wide outside the off-stump but within the wide lines at full length is also a good delivery to keep the ball away from the batter. The captain of the fielding side has to be smart in field positioning as the modern era has led to batters hit an array of shots directed 360 degrees on the ground.
Many times the runs scored by the teams in the death overs are the margin by which the match’s eventual result is influenced.
