What makes an ideal Twenty20 team?

We're now into the third World Twenty20 and three IPL seasons have been completed, so it's worth looking for trends and trendsetters in the shortest version of the game.

First let's look at what makes an ideal Twenty20 team. Two vital ingredients are: a successful opener and a prodigious hitter in the late overs. Part of Sachin Tendulkar's amazing late career revival has featured an extremely successful last IPL season. Much of his success can be attributed to keeping the dot balls to a minimum (37%) and scoring more than half his runs in boundaries. This means he maintains a high run-rate by basically keeping the ball along the ground, thus reducing his chances of being caught. Consequently he accumulated a number of solid scores, making him the ideal type to anchor an innings. The highly successful Mahela Jayawardene employs a similar formula.

This contrasts with a top-order batsman like Suresh Raina, who also had a successful IPL season but took more risks. Raina scored about 25% of his runs via boundary-clearing shots, which means when his timing is a little astray or his luck is out, he's more likely to struggle than Tendulkar or Jayawardene.

Albie Morkel capably fulfills the requirements for a late-order hitter. His Kiwi-destroying innings at the Kensington Oval involved smashing balls out of the park in an arc so true it could have been mapped out using a theodolite. By hitting so straight, Morkel reduces the margin for error much the same as his fellow countryman Lance Klusener did in a golden patch during the 1999 World Cup. Incidentally Morkel scored 40% of his runs from sixes in the IPL, so his formula is surprisingly consistent.

Successful bowlers are harder to distinguish because even the best suffer some form of punishment. However, in conditions like those prevailing at the Kensington Oval, a pair of wicket-taking speedsters like Dale Steyn and Dirk Nannes are an ideal combination.

Not only are they right and left-arm bowlers, both take wickets regularly, produce a lot of dot balls, and are difficult to hit for six. The ability to take wickets with the new ball is crucial, and it is one reason why Australia and South Africa are early favourites for the World Twenty20 title.

Spinners have quickly built a reputation for being vital components in a successful Twenty20 side. The ideal type is a wicket-taker who conjures up around 50% dot balls and has batsmen caught in the outfield rather than in the back of the grandstand by a fan wearing an "I love sixers" t-shirt.

The ideal type of spinner is a wicket-taker who conjures up around 50% dot balls and has batsmen caught in the outfield rather than in the back of the grandstand by a fan wearing an "I love sixers" t-shirt

Not surprisingly, Muttiah Muralitharan and Daniel Vettori rank high and Harbhajan Singh also rates well for the flexibility he provides. Harbhajan has no qualms about bowling with a new ball and only two men out, and this makes him an extremely valuable commodity.

The rest of the team card can be filled out with the likes of dashing opener Dave Warner, who is also a brilliant outfielder; a floating middle-order batsman who hits the ball out of the ground, bowls tidily and fields well, a la Kieron Pollard; and a thinking wicketkeeper like Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is also an extremely adaptable batsman. These are the kinds of players who make up a successful Twenty20 side.

The average score for a Twenty20 innings is in the 145-160 range. Consequently, batsmen who regularly maintain a run-rate in excess of eight per over and bowlers whose economy rate is under seven are going to help win a lot of matches.

As we move to the business end of the World Twenty20, the teams that have made a strong impression, statistically and skill-wise, are Australia and South Africa. However, Sri Lanka are quietly lurking with Jayawardene, the in-form batsman, guiding the way, and an attack that relies more on variety than vroom.

England are an improved side but lack one more reliable six-hitter, and India have much ground to make up after faltering against fast, short-pitched bowling. All that said, Twenty20 cricket is full of surprises and temperament features strongly. Fortunately, there's no statistic for strength of mind.