James Anderson laments decline of bowling highlights in IPL: 'Game's gone too far towards batters'

England bowling great James Anderson expressed concern that the art of bowling is being overlooked in modern cricket, particularly in the Indian Premier League. The veteran noted that the spotlight has shifted entirely to the batting fireworks, leaving little recognition for quality bowling spells.

The IPL 2026 season saw batting dominate the narrative, with rising star Vaibhav Sooryavanshi emerging as a standout performer with his explosive strokeplay in the powerplay overs. The 15-year-old's aggressive batting showcase helped him earn multiple accolades, including the Orange Cap, MVP and Emerging Player awards.

Anderson voices concern about modern cricket

Speaking on the BBC's Tailenders podcast, Anderson highlighted that most of IPL's highlights celebrated batters' dominant performances and big sixes and rarely showed standout bowling deliveries. He added that the game has tilted far too much in favour of batters, leaving the bowlers underappreciated.

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"I was looking at it; obviously, I look at most things from a bowler's point of view, but every game I've watched, every clip I've seen, it's about the batters, it's about the sixes, how far the sixes have gone, it's about Sooryavanshi cleaning up. I don't see many clips about great balls.

"Look at how he's took off stump out the ground there, or all the wickets are caught on the boundary, or a lot of them are, or they're nicks behind, you know, it's not, I just feel like the game's gone too far towards the batters," Anderson said.

Anderson: 'Something’s got to change'

Further in the conversation, Anderson stressed the need to restore balance in the bowlers' favour, echoing a suggestion made by Sachin Tendulkar last week. While he acknowledged that six-hitting remains a crowd favourite, the English seam great insisted that “something’s got to change” to ensure bowlers receive due recognition.

This IPL season featured strong bowling spells from Kagiso Rabada and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. But their contributions were often overshadowed by batting highlights, underlining the broader debate on maintaining balance between bat and ball in the modern game.