Cricket - How to - Series - Part 3

I hope you liked and benefited from first two parts of this series. Continuing from where we left, we will know more about batting basics.

How to have a perfect batswing.

Bat swing is another important part of your batting. It truly decides where and how far the ball can go from your bat. Every player has a different style of batting, their ways differ and so does their batswing. There are players who are very wristy, and those who like to use their muscles more. So it's you who has to decide what works best for you. There's a player that I highly think of the best batman of this era if not the best ever, AB de Villiers. There's a lot that can be learned from him and I'll be going through his process of batswing that is very basic and very effective as well.

1.The first thing you need to do is have a strong base, your stance has to be perfectly balanced.

2.It's better to move your bat up and down rather to keep it at one place all the time in your stance while the bowler is running in to bowl the ball. It gives you a bit of a rhythm into your shot. Some players prefer otherwise but again it's better to stay in rhythm.

3.Move your feet, either back and across or forward and across, just before the ball is delivered to get your rhythm.

1. Assuming that the bowler has pitched the ball up and straight , raise your bat up towards the sticks and as the ball is approaching your front shoulder and foot has to move towards it, now downswing the bat through the line of the ball, keeping your head still and behind your front foot.

2. After you have made the contact, follow through your shot. Your bat should swing straight down the line of the ball and then move up after making contact. Keep your elbow straight and hold your pose.

1. The above mentioned procedure is for a shot that's played aggressively to score runs. You can stop the batswing, if you want to play a defensive shot, just as you have connected the ball.

Now, to get enough power out of your batswing, in order to hit the balls, your legs, forearms and your core plays a big role in it. You should have strong forearms to swing the bat and hit the ball with power. More of the power comes from your legs or thighs and your core. You need to bend your knees a little before making contact with the ball, get under the ball and swing as hard as you can. Keep your front leg a little bit out and open up your back leg, in order to hit through the legside, and use your strong core through the shot.

Your grip has a huge impact here as well, if you have a very tight grip or a very soft grip, you will find it difficult to hit the ball, you might end up edging or spooning the ball a lot of the times. So it's always good to have the right grip, something that I've mentioned in the first post.

Hope you enjoyed reading the post and keep touch for more in future. Thanks!!!