Steyn defends his Twenty20 record

Dale Steyn says Twenty20 cricket is evolving at such a rapid rate that expectations on bowlers need to be far lower than they once were.

Steyn is preparing to open his account for his fourth Indian Premier League franchise, competition new boys Gujarat Lions, in their IPL opener against Kings Punjab XI on Monday night.

The 32-year-old is regarded as one of the best and most skilled bowlers in world cricket having amassed more than 400 wickets in Test matches and 175 in 112 one-day internationals for South Africa.

But the right-armer's output has sometimes been below his own high standards in the shortest form of the game; he was dropped by South Africa for their second and third matches of the recent World T20 having conceded 35 from two overs in their record-breaking loss to England, before he returned to take 1-33 in the dead rubber against Sri Lanka.

He was even the target of a verbal barb during the tournament from Afghanistan batsman Mohammad Shazhad, who labelled the Proteas quick "not dangerous" and added he was disappointed the South Africans had left Steyn out for their clash against the Associate nation.

Steyn has been in and out of the Proteas T20 side in recent years due to form and injury, a fact underlined by his ICC T20 bowling ranking of 62 compared to his ranking of 4th in Tests and 6th in ODIs.

However, Steyn's raw figures indicate he's still a force in the shortest format; he averages 17 in T20 internationals and 23 in domestic T20 cricket and - just as importantly - has conceded around 6.7 runs an over in the more than 200 T20 matches he's played.

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The fiery quick says the ever-changing nature of Twenty20 cricket, where batsmen are seemingly becoming stronger and braver every year, means he's proved his worth as a T20 player.

"If you look at the stats, my stats would tell you that I have done fairly well," he told cricbuzz. "With an economy rate of under seven runs an over, 6.67 in IPL and international T20s, too.

"So, even if I am going for a boundary in every over overall the idea is to go for not more than six runs an over, which I have more or less maintained throughout my career.

"I think that is pretty reasonable for a game where teams can very easily go for 19 or 20 runs an over."

Steyn pointed to the final over of the World T20 final, where West Indian Carlos Brathwaite hammered four consecutive sixes to claim victory over England, as an example of how difficult a task bowlers face in the modern T20 game.

With batsmen getting stronger, more inventive, more skilful and - arguably the most important factor of all - more courageous than they've ever been before, Steyn says the cricket world has to re-adjust its expectations.

"The game is definitely changing, it is easy to score runs now and you got to understand that," he said.

"People need to start understanding that it is not the nineties where (a) bowler can run in and go for three runs an over. Honestly, on an average, bowlers can easily go for 12 to 15 runs an over in this format.

"Boys in the past would think that 'if I can hit two or three or four sixes in the season that would be amazing' but now they are hitting two (or) three a game.

"So people need to understand that it is possible. But if we look at the overall picture, at the average and at the economy rate, I think I am doing okay."

Steyn has joined the likes of T20 stars Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Bravo, James Faulkner, Suresh Raina, Aaron Finch and Ravindra Jadeja at the Lions, who are being led by rookie Australian coach Brad Hodge in their first IPL campaign.

It's Steyn's fourth IPL franchise having previously played with Deccan Chargers, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad.