Sunday, May 10, 2009

For left-handers in SA, it's all going right

Of all the trends that have been noted in the second season of the IPL — from the influence of seniors to the impact made by spinners — this one has to be the most intriguing:
and#149; The top five run-getters in the competition — Matthew Hayden, Suresh Raina, JP Duminy, Yuvraj Singh and Adam Gilchrist — are all left-handers.
and#149; The top wicket-taker in the tournament, RP Singh, is a left-arm seamer; in fact, six in the list of top ten wicket-takers bowl left-arm.
and#149; JP Duminy, lefty, has hit the most number of 50s — four — so far.
and#149; Hayden has hit the most number of sixes, while Yuvraj has smashed the longest one of them all at 118m.
and#149; RP's tally of 30 wickets in the two IPL seasons is the most by any bowler, while Irfan Pathan has inflicted the maximum number of golden-ducks in IPL 2009.
The numbers have left — pun intended — even experts scratching their heads for an explanation. "Honestly, it's strange," says former Zimbabwe opener Alastair Campbell. "Left-handers are everywhere, with the bat and the ball. I spoke to the guys about this, but there doesn't seem to be any particular reason. Maybe it's because there are fewer left-handers around, so they're more difficult to get used to. "
The fact that it's mostly the left-handers who open the batting for their respective teams also give them more scoring opportunities. Similarly, the main impact bowlers of respective sides are all left-handers. Delhi, in fact, have left-arm bowlers — Ashish Nehra and Dirk Nannes — to bowl with the new ball.
Most studies say left-handers constitute just about 8-10 percent of the human population. In the IPL though, they are making up for quantity

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