Flat pitches are the engrossing new plague of T20 cricket

How often do you see a 200+ score in T20I cricket? Well, 36 times in internationals in 2026 is the answer for full-member batting teams.

A total which once seemed above-par, occurring on rare occasions of sheer brilliance by batting teams, has become reduced to an expectation on many surfaces.

Flaccid pitches, often referred to as ‘flat,’ present minimal assistance to bowlers. Instead, batsmen tend to dominate. Short boundaries often accommodate these batting paradises, ensuring large targets are more than attainable.

The most recent example of this is the T20I series between India and West Indies in India. Three games in, the scores for both teams have been 171, 172-2 (14.4), 249, 252 (18.3), 223, and 209 (20), respectively. Five of the six scores could have been 200+ in the full quota of 20 overs.

After a set of tricky pitches in Japan during the Asian Games, bilateral series relentlessly churn out run-scoring pitches. The truth is, high-scoring games attract audiences, as seen by the record-breaking 2026 season of the Indian Premier League.

With an eye fixed on the monetary output of these matches, it is often in the best interest of cricket boards to produce bat-dominated matches to bring high viewership. Yet, a sense of fatigue has been built up with these repetitive high scores and little respite for bowlers.

T20 is not the only format affected by this score-flation. In each of the ODIs between India and West Indies before the T20I series, India scored more than 300, a benchmark for a good batting track. Even a staggering 405/7 was chased down in 43.3 overs, going at a run rate near 10 for the equivalent of more than two T20I innings.

Part of a larger movement to bat-heavy contests, elite cricket must save its bowlers. T20s are the favored format, and the only way to keep the format’s billions of dedicated fans attached to their favorite sport is to keep the contest between bat and ball that has been present for centuries.