Kallis: Cracking the T20 code

When the Twenty20 International format was born in 2007, it was greeted with apprehension. Purists snickered at a format that ostensibly took the aesthetics of cricket away, leaving room only for the effectiveness. Connoisseurs, as also the lay fan, had no doubt the 20-over affair was meant for the powerful hitters and not for the classically inclined.
IPL, too, fuelled the notion that there was only place for the big strikers in the format. In its early days, the tournament’s Top 10 run-getters’ list was occupied by naturally aggressive batsmen men like Shaun Marsh, Sanath Jayasuriya, Shane Watson, Adam Gilchrist, Yusuf Pathan, MS Dhoni and Virender Sehwag. With the exception of Gautam Gambhir, all the names were known to be brutal batsman, with little regard for classical technique.
But as the league has got older, the trends have changed. The stalwarts of Test cricket have shown there’s no substitute for class, whether the game lasts for five days or three hours. One such man is Jacques Kallis. From being the rock of his country’s Test team’s middle order to opening the batting for his IPL teams with unheard of consistency, this legend from South Africa has redefined the image of a T20 batsman.
When he entered the inaugural IPL season with close to 10,000 runs in both Tests and ODIs, Kallis, like any other old school classical batsman, found it tough to cope with the pace of scoring in T20. “I was a bit over aggressive and got out trying to play too many shots too early,” he admits. And then, like champions do, he set about the task of mastering the new format.
“I’ve worked really hard on the shortest format over the last couple of years. I worked with [former South Africa coach] Duncan Fletcher in particular on this,” he reveals with characteristic modesty. The hard work has paid off. The 361 runs at 27.76 in the 2009 season were followed by a total of 572 at 47.66 in 2010, both for Royal Challengers Bangalore. And this year, playing for the Kolkata Knight Riders, Kallis looks good to overshadow his previous performances.
For a man who spent more than a decade batting a certain way, it must have been difficult to adapt his game to suit the shortest format. Kallis reveals the tough part was to make the mental adjustment. “The mental make-up changes. You need to think fast,” he says.
The pace of a T20 and the high risks involved makes it almost impossible for someone to score on a consistent basis. However, Kallis’ IPL record belies this fact. While the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Suresh Raina have scored more runs than he has, Kallis’ consistency can be gauged by the fact that he has crossed the 50-run mark in an innings 13 times – the most by any batsman in the league.
As is the case with most great achievements, the secret to his consistency is pretty simple. “In T20s, if you go without scoring runs in a couple of games, it gets difficult to get your form back because you don’t have the time to play yourself in. So once you get into that rhythm, make sure you keep going without throwing it away,” he says.
Along with changing his mental make-up, there were also some minor technical adjustments to be made. “In the longer formats you try and get as close to the bat as possible while here you need to give yourself more room to free your arms and play more all-round shots,” Kallis reveals.
The hallmark of all Kallis’ IPL innings has been the beauty with which they are paced. The basic rules like giving the first couple of overs to the bowler and dominating him for the rest of the innings, and blocking a good ball, hold even in this pocket-sized format. Kallis believes the role of an anchor is a vital one even in T20.
“I believe even in T20 you need to have someone who can bat through the innings. While my role changes according to the situation, most of the time I play the anchor while the guys bat around me,” he says.
After 15 years of success at the highest level, this stalwart from the Rainbow Nation is using the lessons from the new format to enhance his batting in the traditional formats.
“When you discover that you can play those aggressive shots with good effect, you take it into the other formats as well. And T20 has made me more attacking in Tests and ODIs,” he says.
“In the end, it’s all about improving every day, no matter which format you’re playing,” Kallis signs off, stressing the importance of working at one’s craft tirelessly.