With a lot of T-20 and 50 overs cricket being played all over the world the batsmen are hitting some innovative strokes which the audiences love to watch.
Here we look at the top 5 innovative strokes in modern day cricket.
1. Helicopter shot
It is one of most innovative strokes in modern day cricket. The main person who has mastered this is the Indian captain MS Dhoni. In this shot, the batsman gets back in his crease and uses his bottom hand to get the power and goes all the way completing his follow through making the bat swirl in a helicopter-like swing. It needs a lot of practice, courage, wrist work and strength to hit such a shot. The bowlers have to be careful while bowling a Yorker. This shot creates a doubt in the mind of the bowler how to reduce the risk of that shot.
2. Reverse sweep
In modern day cricket, reverse sweep cricket has been a lethal opponent for batsmen around the world. It is used to disturb the line and length of the bowlers. It needs a lot of practice, innovation, not to fear any bowler to successfully make this shot. In test cricket too, this shot is used. In T20 and ODI, Reverse sweep are being hit off the faster bowlers too. This shot has to be on dot to get the results and some batsmen have done this successfully lately.
3. Switch hit
Switch hit is another innovative stroke in modern day cricket. In this shot, the batsmen changes his grip and stance from right-handed to a left-handed style and vice versa. David Warner and Maxwell are the specialists of this shot. By playing this stroke he makes the bowler think. AB de Villiers also plays with perfection especially to the fast bowlers which shows the swagger and the dynamic attitude of this top player. The first batsmen to hit switch hit in International cricket was England’s Kevin Petersen.
4. Inside out shot
It is a shot which is one of the toughest and innovative strokes in the world. We see these days that modern day batsmen use this shot with great effect. In this shot, the batsman comes down the track and makes room to hit the ball over the cover region. With the pitches helpful for batsmen and also with shorter boundaries it fetches a lot of runs for the batting side. Suresh Raina, Hashim Amla, Ab de Villiers, Virat Kohli and Glenn Maxwell are really good players of this shot.
5. Paddle sweep
In T-20 and 50-over cricket, where almost all the things go to the batsman’s favor in terms of field placement, the top hitters in the world take advantage of it. AB de Villiers hits the fast bowlers behind the wicket and just stuns the crowd with this shot. He uses his shot when it’s needed the most, especially in the slog overs. It can be hit off the spinner. Ab de Villiers hit this type of shots in IPL 6 and IPL 7.
