Impact with the ball

Meet the ball with the full face of the bat The position of the front shoulder and the downswing is important - not the backlift: If a batsman 'opens' his front shoulder towards mid-wicket early in his stroke, he finds it difficult to 'close' it if required to play off-side strokes. But a batsman who ...

Downswing

Meet the ball with the full face of the bat Role of the front shoulder in the downswing of the bat: For a batsman to be successful at any level it is important that he should meet the ball with the full face of the bat while playing strokes in front of the wicket, either of the ...

Back lift

The prime requirement for a well executed stroke is the back-lift. This is the backward lifting of the bat in preparation for the stroke to be played. It is thus vital to know when, where and how to take the back-lift. You must have often heard a commentator saying that a batsman has played ...

Batting Stance

Feet movement and distribution of body weight in a balanced stance When you watch matches on TV or at the ground, you must have noticed many batsmen shuffling and moving about in the crease before the ball is delivered. These batsmen feel that by doing so they get that split second extra to play a shot ...

Griping the bat

Grip : Hands close together in the middle of the handle Have you seen pictures or video-clips of the all-time greats of cricket such as Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Vivian Richards and our very own Sunil Gavaskar while batting? They scored runs almost at will in any class of cricket, and ...

Handle Grips and Bat Weight

The number of rubber grips on the bat, is another, which has caught the imagination of batsman. Clive Llyod used four to five grips on his bat. Clive being big builds and had quite large hands, hence was comfortable having those numbers of grips and it varied in accordance to the thickness of the rubber ...

Variation in stance

Batting Stance : Stance The stance is the position that a batsman takes in the crease before facing every delivery. The stance mostly depends on each batsman's comfort and style of play. Some may opt for an 'open' stance, some may prefer a 'side-on' stance, and others, an 'upright' stance - made popular by ...

Taking Guard

Batting Stance : Taking Guard Before you commence your innings, it is necessary to mark the position where you will take your position to face the bowler, either with your shoe spikes or your bat. Shivnarine Chandrapaul has even made it fashionable to use a bail to do so. In cricket parlance, this is ...

Role of the hands

Role of Hands Before we proceed to learn batting techniques, it is very important that we know what role the hands play in batting correctly. You must have heard coaches and senior players telling youngsters to use the top hand to keep the ball down while driving off the front foot. The top hand, or the left ...

Role of Eyes

Role of the eyes. 'Keep your eyes on the ball, before and at the time of impact', is the universal principle that governs all ball games. Your head remains steady till the impact and then and only then is it lifted to see where the ball is going. Watch a top-notch golfer playing and you will ...