Trent Boult was looked at more as a Test bowler or a 50-over bowler but he has come a long way in T20 cricket over the last couple of years. Boult did not have impressive numbers in T20 cricket till 2016 and this is when he began to come to his own. Boult picked up 11 wickets in 2017 at an average of 16.36 and backed it up with another 11 wickets in 2018 after a quiet 2019 and 2020.
Boult has been right on the money in 2021 and has already picked up 23 wickets from 58.4 overs to play a crucial role for New Zealand. He was right up there with the best in the 2021 T20 World Cup as well, finishing as the joint second highest wicket taker with Adam Zampa.
Boult took 13 wickets from 17 matches at an average of 13.30 and an economy rate of 6.25 with the best of 3/17 against Afghanistan. He was awarded the player of the match in that game and played a crucial role in New Zealand's 9-wicket victory which in one go knocked out both Afghanistan and India from the race of the semi-finals.
"Nice to tick off the performance here this afternoon. Now we move forward for the business end of the tournament. Boys are feeling good. There is a big difference between the day games and the night games. We have been playing good cricket. Hopefully we can keep it going. It’s just about adapting (to the toss), executing well and chasing it down properly was what we talked about, glad that we got the job done," Boult said after receiving the award.
Boult was a one trick pony to begin with but has added a lot of variations to his bowling. He can now bowl the slower one, the yorker, the bouncer, the slower bouncer and keeps mixing the angles. That he is a left arm bowler gives him added advantage.
Most of his wickets come right at the beginning of the match in the powerplay with his ability to bring the ball back into the right-handers. Boult is one of the best bowlers going around in T20 cricket because of the simple reason that he can bowl in any phase of the game much like JaspritBumrah.
Captain Kane Williamson throws the ball to Boult whenever he wants him to get a breakthrough and the bowler delivers more often than not.
