Subcontinent throws party for batsmen, spinners

The combination of India's flat pitches and cricket's most trigger-happy batsmen is certain to produce some torrid moments for fast bowlers during the World Twenty20.

Pacemen have rarely been stars of the T20 show, a format which tends to have master-blasters like Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers hog the headlines as they smash cricket's sacred balance between bat and ball out of the park.

Feared fast men like South Africa's Dale Steyn have complained that T20 threatens to turn pace bowling into an anachronism, pointing to the riches lavished on those who can reverse sweep rather than conjure reverse swing.

The statistics at the last World T20 in neighbouring Bangladesh make grim reading for quicks, with four of the five top wicket-takers spinners. Unheralded Netherlands seamer Ahsan Malik was the surprise exception.

With T20 allowing only one bouncer per over, compared to two allowed in one-dayers, fast bowlers have long complained they are operating with one hand tied behind their backs.

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The big bats of the modern game, which can send mis-hits flying over boundaries, add further reason for them to feel aggrieved, said former India batsman Rahul Dravid.

"I think the balance between bat and ball needs to be addressed," he said last year. "Scores around 160-170 make an exciting game in T20. Some rules can surely be changed."

Since none have been, much will depend on the whims of the groundskeepers at the seven venues from Dharamsala to Bangalore.

Not all of them should prove a fast-bowling graveyard, according to former Australia paceman Ryan Harris, who also played five IPL tournaments from 2009-13.

"Although they're quite flat to bowl on, slow and low, most of the wickets are really good one-day and Twenty20 wickets," Harris told Reuters.

Mohali may offer something for Australia's seamers along with New Zealand, Pakistan and the hosts.

Fast bowlers haven't won the World T20's man of the series in its five editions but a few have made a key imprint.

Sri Lanka's Lasith Malinga leads the all-time wicket-takers with 38 while other yorker specialists have made notable cameos. Pakistan's quick Umar Gul was the first to notch a five-wicket haul when he destroyed New Zealand with 5/6 in a three-over spell in England in 2009.