A number seven batsman simply has no time to waste in T20 cricket. Barring a rare top-order collapse, he walks out to bat during the last few overs and is expected to blast every delivery to the boundary. He gets as much flak for failing to deliver as praise when everything clicks for him.
Only 76 batsmen have batted at this position since 2016 but only 12 of them have gone on to score 100 or more runs. We'll take the sample of these 12 players to find out the most effective batsmen at this position during this period.
Andre Russell's numbers are unreal
As it can be seen in the plot above, Andre Russell is in a League of his own. The Caribbean batsman is the highest run-getter at this position during this period, with a total of 343 runs to his name in nine innings.
His RpI of 38.11 is the highest among these batsmen and his strike-rate of 169.80 is also the second-best in this category of batsmen.
Hardik Pandya's numbers don't do justice to his ability
The Mumbai all-rounder has the third-highest tally of runs (224) at this position since 2016 but his RpI and Strike-rate are among the poorest. Hardik has scored 11.79 runs per innings on average and has struck at a rate of only 118.52.
These are underwhelming numbers for someone who had a memorable season with the bat last year. He scored at a strike-rate of over 160 at this position last year and his numbers are bound to improve with time.
Ravichandran Ashwin's rare appearance among power-hitters
The off-spinner has batted at No. 7 quite a few times over the last few years and his numbers are as good as other power-hitters like Chris Morris, Krunal Pandya, Carlos Brathwaite and Dwayne Bravo.
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Ashwin has 108 runs to his name at this position in eight innings at an excellent strike-rate of 156.52. He made a switch to the Delhi from Punjab in the trade window last year and will, therefore, be looking to establish his position at his new team.
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Punit Paranjpe
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