Understanding T20: a conversation with Hassan Cheema

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Our special guest this week is Hassan Cheema, the strategy manager at Islamabad United – the Pakistan Super League champions in 2016 and 2018.
Hassan talks about the rapidly evolving T20 format and gives us a peek into what franchises are doing to stay ahead of the curve. Having observed some of the top T20 players first-hand, Hassan brings forth the complexities of the game and the challenges involved in managing a team.

Talking Points:

How West Indies revolutionized the approach to T20s
The overwhelming importance of the toss
Measures used to judge a T20 batsman
The flexible batting order and how best to use an anchor
Unlearning the lessons from red ball cricket
Retiring out batsmen and tactical drops
What constitutes a good over in T20?
Tactics v execution: the tightrope walk
How one builds a player's trust and the need to go beyond cricket
The unquantifiable value of some fielders
The grammar of T20 and what TV can do better

Participants:
Hassan Cheema (@mediagag)
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee)
Related:
The flexible team - Tim Wigmore - ESPNcricinfo
How to watch a T20 game - Sidharth Monga - ESPNcricinfo
Cricket 2.0: Inside the T20 Revolution - Tim Wigmore and Freddie Wilde - Amazon.com
'If you go searching for wickets in T20, you're playing into the batsman's hand' - Samuel Badree interview - ESPNcricinfo
T20 openers are more conservative than they need to be - Kartikeya Date - ESPNcricinfo
Is a single in T20 the same as a dot ball in ODIs? - Kartikeya Date - ESPNcricinfo