I’m new to cricket and I hear commentators talk about having a left- and right-hand batter batting together in T20 cricket. Why is it such a benefit and is it only a benefit in T20 cricket?

Hi Roshan, welcome to cricket. I hope you're enjoying the game.

The benefit of having a right hand and left-hand batters batting together is it puts more pressure on the bowlers to maintain the lines and lengths they want to bowl to each batter.

The line a bowler wants to bowl to a right hander differs from the lines they may like to bowl to a left hander.

So, if the batters are rotating the strike regularly the bowler is under more pressure to bowl the right lines to each batter and there’s more room for error which gives each batter greater opportunities to score runs more freely.

The benefits of a left- and right-hand combination is not confined to T20 cricket, it’s the same for cricket at all levels and formats.