Those days, Cricket was played with some traditional strokes which includes the straight drives, cover drives etc. Even the bowlers don’t have much variations to their bowling. But as the days went bowlers worked on some variations, batsmen developed their own arrays of shots and madethe game interesting. Here are top five inventions of cricketers that changed the way the game has played.
Switch-Hit
Switch-Hit came into existance when England‘s Kevin Pietersen tried it against New Zealand at Edgbaston in 2008. The shot is executed by changing stance from a left-handed to a right-handed batsman or vice-versa during the bowler’s run-up and hitting it over the in-field. Initially, few said that this shot is a demonstration of a batsman’s skill while others said that it gives an unfair advantage to the fielding side because the field is set based on the batsman’s initial stance at the crease. Later ICC declared the shot as legal.
Scoop Shot or Marillier Shot
The Scoop Shot or Marillier shot or ramp shot is a great which involves using the bat as a ramp to flick a ball backwards over wicket-keeper. It is a rare, risky and unorthodox shot but when successfully used can be devastating. The shot was pioneered by Zimbabwean batsman Douglous Marillier, after whom the shot is named.
Dilscoop
Dilscoop is the upgraded version of scoop shot developed by Sri Lanka‘s Tillakaratne Dilshan. The basis of the stroke is to go on one knee to a good length or slightly short of length delivery off a fast or medium paced bowler and ‘scoop’ the ball over the head of the wicket keeper. The ball travels straight towards the boundary behind the wicket keeper.
Helicopter Shot
A stroke played by swinging the bat in an “uppercut” fashion so that it catches the ball partly from below; in the follow-through the bat flails up and round vertically, through an angle that may exceed 180 degrees. This shot is said to be invented by Pakistan‘s Abdul Razzaq by fw and few say Sachin Tendulkar invented it. BNut credits for this shot often goes to MS Dhoni. The helicopter shot is very risky, but can be unusually effective at scoring boundaries against yorkers.
Doosra
Doosra is an off-spinner’s finger spin equivalent of the googly, in that it turns the “wrong way”. It was developed by Saqlain Musthaq.