Stat padding is a term that is used in team sports. A player or athlete who is indulged in the act of stat padding is often looked down upon. To associate this term with a player is a sensitive matter as the phrase is derogatory in context. A player is tagged as a stat padder when they aim to increase their career statistics and numbers in a match rather than seeing what might be beneficial to the team in a particular match.
In the sport of cricket, the term stat padder has been more often associated with batters. There have been scenarios when batters have modified their style of play to ensure that they do not throw their wicket away. While they remain not out, they do not necessarily wish to score runs. By staying undismissed, they increase their career average. This action of batters entirely ignores the match situation.
In modern times when the T20 format is witnessing aggressive cricket, stat padding can be painful for the team. Batters either pile up the dot balls count, rarely rotate the strike by running between the wickets, and eventually see the team’s total end up well short of what the projected score would have been earlier.
While batters can stat pad by scoring runs unusually, the bowlers can rarely be associated with this term. This is because bowlers cannot take frequent wickets at will and have to rely on their shear skill against batters with different styles of play.
There is no particular person who associates a player as a stat padder. The tag of a stat padder against a player is only given by fans and followers of the sport. Cricket pundits and analysts refrain from these words and strictly discourage such practice. Moreover, not every player dubbed as a stat padder is unanimously accepted as being so.
