The death overs (17–20) hold the highest six-rate of any phase of an Indian T20 innings. Sixer reads the phase three ways: by the venue's six-rate, by the bowler profile the captain sets and by the finisher captain lean the math supports.
Sixer reads the death six-rate from the venue's last twelve innings. A high six-rate (over 14) supports the finisher captain; a low six-rate (under 11) flags a tight death and an anchor captain at three.
When the venue's death six-rate is over 14, Sixer flags the finisher captain tier. The finisher's main risk — a slow outfield evening or a tight on-side ring — is weighed against the upside of three to four sixes in the four-over phase.
A death six-rate between 11 and 14 keeps both the finisher and the anchor captain in play. Sixer defaults to the finisher when the straight boundary is long and to the anchor when the bowler card runs two spinners.
When the death six-rate is under 11, the finisher captain is off the table. The captain call moves back to the anchor or to a strike bowler with a yorker card; the working read is that the death will absorb risk without rewarding it.
The death-overs bowler profile is the variable that turns a high-six-rate venue into a 4–6 boundary window or a 1–2 boundary window. Pace at the death hits the rope harder than spin; spin at the death holds the boundary length but loses the pace carry.
Pace bowlers go for sixes at the death more often than spinners. The pace carry through the mis-hit is harder to control — a top-edge clears the square-leg boundary even when the batter is late on the pull. Sixer logs the pace card from the line-up.
Spin bowlers hold the boundary length at the death but concede the pace carry. The slower-ball variation is what wins the phase for a spinner. Sixer flags the bowler's slower-ball percentage before locking the read.
The yorker is the death-overs neutraliser. A bowler with a 35%+ yorker percentage at the death halves the six-rate. Sixer tags tonight's yorker card from the bowler's last twelve death spells.
A finisher captain who clears 36 off 14 with four sixes scores (36 × 2) + (4 × 8) = 104 captain points. The finisher captain is the leverage pick on high-death-rate venues; the desk reads the venue first, the captain second.
The finisher captain's bat speed peaks in overs 17–20. The phase is the only window where a clean strike clears 82 metres of straight boundary without dropping into the fielder ring. Sixer logs the bat-speed profile from the player's last twelve innings.
Finisher captains split roughly evenly between off-side and leg-side strikes at the death. Sixer weights the finisher tier by which side of the boundary the venue's straight rope is shorter — the lean follows the rope.
The vice-captain on a finisher captain call is an opener or an anchor, not a finisher duplicate. The opener and finisher captain are the two-phase pair Sixer works most often; the vice is the powerplay insurance, not a second finisher.
A short note on the questions the desk hears most about the death overs.