The 19th over

For it to happen once can be written off as statistically insignificant, but when the same thing happens a short time afterwards, we start to take notice and perhaps identify the birth of a trend. And we think we've seen one, namely this: The penultimate over of a t20 match is the key one.

Obviously, we'll be doing an in-depth statistical analysis of all t20 cricket at some point in the future (cough), but for now simply pointing it will do. It started with Albie Morkel's astonishing assault on the awkward bowling of Virat Kohli in game 13, taking him for 28 runs with Bangalore needing 43 off the last two overs. Though still with work to do in the last over, those six balls broke the back of the challenge allowing Dwayne Bravo and Ravi Jadeja to guide Chennai home.

The same thing happened today in game 33. With Mumbai needing 32 from two overs, Robin Peterson and Ambati Rayudu combined to take Piyush Chawla's figures from three overs for 19 runs to four overs for 46. Even as wily a bowler as Azhar Mahmood wasn't going to defend five from the final over and Mumbai grabbed a win from nowhere.

So what's the lesson here? Bangalore's mistake was allowing an agricultural slogger to tee off against the long-hops and full tosses of a part-time bowler with an action that could curdle milk. Peterson and Rayudu were facing a proper leggy, albeit one that has proved hittable in the past. Both episodes were very much a case of shit or bust for the batting side - they had to go for it and couldn't leave it any later. They swung, they won.

Time was that six runs off an over seemed a mountain of Himalayan proportions. The rapid expansion of the one-day game quickly meant that became the nonsense that we recognise today, but where scores in excess of 40 off two overs are becoming normal, that's a whole new ball game. We'll need to see such 19th-over pyrotechnics more often if we're going to form this into a new trend or even a tactic, but if any t20 captains out there want our advice it's this: Work on your death bowling options.