T20 cricket: Always trending, always changing

The T20 World Cup returns to Indian soil after a decade. The format that once felt like a rebellious upstart has matured into a ruthless, high-octane beast which has shed its skin multiple times.

TOI brings you the defining shifts that have rewritten the format’s DNA.....Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!DEATH OF THE ANCHOR BATTERGone are the days when a steady accumulator could shepherd the innings. Post-2016, the anchor role is now seen as a luxury no team can afford. Strike rates in the middle overs have skyrocketed. Today’s game demands constant boundary-hunting.

RESURGENCE OF WRIST SPINIn 2016, India entered the T20 World Cup without a frontline wrist spinner, relying instead on orthodox finger spin.

The format punished that conservatism and wrist spin exploded thereafter. Rashid Khan, Adam Zampa, Adil Rashid and later Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Wanindu Hasaranga and Noor Ahmad turned matches with googlies, flippers and variations.RISE OF MULTI-SKILLED CRICKETERSThe 2026 squads are built around players who can give you at least two disciplines for their spot in the XI. Lineups now stretch to No. 8 and 9 with genuine batting ability.

Batters who can bowl two competent overs or bowlers who can clear the rope are selection prerequisites.RETIRED-OUT AS A LIVE TACTICTeams are prepared to pull out a batter who can’t find the boundary ropes and send in a fresher hitter. Strategic retirements and ‘phase specialists’ are the in thing.POWERPLAY ENFORCERS AT THE TOPThe first six overs used to be about one batter going hard while the other played cautiously. Now both are expected to attack from ball one. Openers like Phil Salt, Jos Buttler, Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head arrive with the license to hit.MIDDLE-OVERS SPIN DESTROYERSBatters deploy reverse sweeps, switchhits, scoops and many other unorthodox shots to dismantle wrist and finger-spin alike in the middle overs.DATA-DRIVEN PHASE PLAY AND MATCH-UPSTeams now slice innings into microsegments and set very specific targets for each, backed by match-up data on which bowler is likely to operate when. Even field settings and bowling changes are stitched around probabilities.BOWLING VARIETYT20 has produced seamers who can bowl six different slower balls, yorkers from wide of the crease and back-of-the-hand change-ups that mimic leg-spin. Spinners, meanwhile, have shortened their run-ups, flattened their trajectories and added carrom balls and sliders, turning the middle overs into an experiment in deception.