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The short ball is something Indian batsmen are Top fourth innings bowling performances
It Figures: Thirteen great displays
generally, and naturally, not too good against. I used
to envy young Australian batsmen during my playing
days. A bouncer was a scoring opportunity for them.
The moment somebody bowled short, they pounced
on it. It's like when an Indian batsman sees a spinner
bowl short. For Indian batsmen against bouncers,
their first instinct is not positive. Then we sort of tell The pull is not the only way to score off a short delivery
ourselves that we are going to be aggressive. © Cameraworx/Liv e Images
Enlarge
In the nineties India started to look at Australia as the
team to be. The kids in that era grew up idolising
Australian batsmen. Perhaps that's why a lot of them Related Links
are playing the pull shot today, to make a statement, Players/Officials: Dinesh Karthik | Virat Kohli | Rohit Sharma
even if it doesn't come naturally to them. For the Teams: India
Australians the pull shot is like the drive or the flick is
for the Indians.
There is a notion that in limited-overs cricket if you don't pull, you give the bowlers free dot-balls. And you
can't keep ducking either. That's what the young Indian batsmen often say. Suresh Raina showed he played
the short ball better in Tests, when he wasn't under pressure to score fast. In limited-overs cricket, though,
they start pulling , but unconvincingly, thereby making it a high-risk shot.
Sachin Tendulkar doesn't play the pull anymore. Nor does Virender Sehwag. VVS Laxman doesn't play it as
often as he used to. They are all still effective batsmen at the international level. You don't always need to
always play the pull shot to prove something to someone. Why play a high-risk shot at a time when you don't
want to lose wickets?
You don't need to hit a boundary every time the ball is bowled short. I remember when they bowled short to Sponsored Links
Sunil Gavaskar in limited-overs matches in Australia, he would glide it to third man for a single. And then the Check out the new Dhoni zone brought to you
bowler had a different batsman to adjust to. How does Tendulkar take care of short balls in Twenty20? He by Aircel
Team India Captain says "Hello"
does not play aggressive shots; he just takes singles to fine leg or taps it over where slips would be. More
importantly, he shows he is comfortable against the short ball. That is the key. Follow the top players & teams in T20, Test and
ODIs
If someone is bowling short in limited-overs cricket, he is not going to do so right through the innings. It's just Maruti Suzuki Cricket Ratings
a matter of maybe two overs. And it is impossible to keep bowling short in Twenty20. How many pitches will Witness the Pioneering spirit of Indian cricket
allow you to do that? At any rate, India's main problem is not that they are stuck for long periods without team
A product of Lufthansa
scoring runs. Their problem is that they are losing wickets. It's not like they are three down for 180 in 50
overs. Ovi Music Unlimited
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Fast bowlers keep bowling short at a batsman only when they see he is uncomfortable against it. What with Ovi Music Unlimited Today!
happens with a Raina or a Ravindra Jadeja is that they show they are uncomfortable. If Raina, even in Hello bhaiya? If I run fast enough CAN I FLY?
Twenty20, ducks under one, and guides the next one for a single to fine leg, and shows he is comfortable, he CHILDLINE 1098
won't get much more of it. It will only happen if it's clear to them that he is getting into strange positions
cricinfo.com/magazine/…/475277.html 1/4
04-09-2010
won't get much more of it. It will only happen if it's clear Sanjay Manjrekar
to them that oninto
he is getting India's batting
strange positionspro…
while trying to pull. Being secure against the short ball is important. Even if you're not scoring off it, if you look
reasonably comfortable against it without playing an attacking shot, you will be fine.
Therein lies the need for these young batsmen to discover their own game, what they are suited to do best.
And the onus, a lot of it, is on Gary Kirsten to help them do that.
Dinesh Karthik
You have to feel for him, for he has never got an
extended run in a certain position. Having said that,
he is opening in limited-overs cricket. The white new
ball does a bit more than the red one, and once the
lights come on, sometimes it swings even more. To
face the new ball well, he needs to get back to his
basic game, with which he seems to have lost touch.
Karthik's game has changed in the last two or three
years, during which he has mostly played limited-
overs cricket and tried to meet the demands of those
forms. I see him doing things that seem to be outside
his game. For example, standing outside the crease.
When you are out of form, playing a fast bowler on a Dinesh Karthik's stance to Kyle Mills after a ball swung away.
Mills duly took the edge with the next delivery © Ten Sports
responsive pitch, why would you want to give yourself
Enlarge
less time?
When you walk down the pitch to bowlers like Kyle Mills and Lasith Malinga, it just defies logic. I think Karthik
is a little confused. Too many pre-meditated movements have crept in - both when he walks down the pitch
and when he sometimes stays in the crease for no apparent reason. He doesn't seem to be doing the one
basic thing: watching the ball, and then reacting to it accordingly.
When you play swing bowlers off the back foot, giving yourself more time, you get width. You get a chance to
play the square cut. Imagine that Nuwan Kulasekara has bowled an inswinger. You stand outside your crease
and thrust your front foot forward and counter the swing. Compare it to another batsman who stays in the
crease and sees the inswinger coming. If it is not very full and finishes around middle and leg, it can be
deflected to fine leg or square leg. You need not limit your options by walking down the pitch. When the ball is
spinning or seaming, it makes a lot of sense to play it late.
Sehwag rarely walks down; Tendulkar never does. There are two batsmen who come to mind who have
successfully adopted this tactic without limiting their scoring options. For Matthew Hayden it was an extension
of what he did; he could always go back to his basic game. Gautam Gambhir also walks down the pitch
sometimes, but he seems calm in his mind when he does it, ready to react to whatever happens; he is
watching the ball closely all the time.
Karthik seems to go down with a specific plan in mind, and if the ball is not where he expects it to be, he
struggles. You get the feeling he is not settled in his mind. My advice to him would be to just settle down, get
into a normal stance, give himself time to play, and just react to the ball. Then, when he wants to play
differently, if he walks down the pitch, he'll be fine. He has got a decent enough basic game to succeed in
international cricket.
Virat Kohli
Kohli is a talented player, one who goes out there
wanting to make a difference. His technique, though,
worries me, especially in conditions like in Dambulla.
He will get such conditions in South Africa, Australia,
and sometimes in England.
Whatever the length of the ball, the position of his
feet is the same. He gets into a sort of criss-cross
position, where the front foot is across from the back
foot - and not well down the pitch, as it should be.
When the ball is short, you have to go slightly back, or
at least your weight has to go back; when it is pitched
up, you have to go forward. He does not have this
Virat Scissorfeet: The front foot moves across no matter the
basic game.
length of the delivery © Getty Images
Kohli could be advised to have a look at Rahul Dravid, Enlarge
because they have some similarities. Dravid too looks
to get on the front foot, but when the ball is pitched up, he makes an extra effort to get down to the pitch of
it. When it is short, he stays back, without actually taking a backward step: he is waiting for it, his weight is
back, even though his front foot seems to be down the pitch. When Dravid plays a square cut, you will never
see both his feet together behind the popping crease. His front foot will be out of the crease, but his weight
will be back. That is how he gives himself time to meet the ball late.
Kohli is making life difficult for himself on responsive pitches by just having one kind of foot movement for all
lengths. It can be worked on if he plays a hundred balls of different lengths in a day in practice. And if he is
reminded again and again to get back when the ball is short and well forward when it is full.
Rohit Sharma
We have to consider Rohit a bit like we would VVS
Laxman. They are both elegant batsmen, but Rohit is
a bit tighter than Laxman was when he first
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04-09-2010 Sanjay Manjrekar on India's batting pro…
appeared. Laxman, though, showed that he had great
mental discipline, which Rohit needs to acquire.
Technically there aren't too many things he needs to
work on, like Kohli and Karthik do. He needs to know
he is a little loose at the start of the innings, and that,
like Yuvraj Singh, he is tentative outside off and has a
tendency of going through the line of balls outside off.
He has to learn to leave them alone, because he is
not a square-cutter. If you are going to push at
deliveries outside off, you are doing yourself no good.
He does not get into a position to cut them nor does
he look to leave them.
That will only change when he becomes mentally more relaxed. It is a technical thing, but it has a lot to do
with your insecurity as a batsman. In the nets he needs to tell himself, "Wait. Make your foot movements only
after the ball is delivered." When you are out of form, you think too many things, and before the ball is
delivered you have made certain movements, getting yourself into positions that are not ideal. When you are
in form, like Sehwag, you stand still in the crease and your feet and body start operating only after the ball is
delivered. When you think too much, you don't do that basic thing well enough, watching the ball. Rohit has to
keep telling himself to "watch the ball" to remove all other thoughts from the mind and focus on what really
matters.
Former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar is a cricket commentator and presenter on TV. His Twitter feed is here
Feeds: Sanjay Manjrekar
Recommend 575 people recommend this. Be the first of your friends. Comments: 84
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04-09-2010 Sanjay Manjrekar on India's batting pro…
Winston Benjamin. He was hit on the eye and took no further part in the match. He belongs as we all know to the Bombay school of
cricket which meant adherence to technique and being proud of it. Having seen Sanjay's father Vijay play in the then Bombay of
the 50s, I could see that Sanjay had indeed inherited the rich legacy of technical precision from his father. But where his Vijay
Manjrekar was a superb player of the hook and the pull against the best fast bowlers, I have seldom seen Sanjay really play these
shots. He was a fine player of fast bowling make no mistake but he tended to avoid these strokes.In fact Sanjay was probably the
best player against the reverse swing that the two Ws used to generate.His career never really took off as expected because he
could not make adjustments in his technique to play on the bouncy wickets of Australia, South Africa.
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