Two shots, I have always found difficult to play are sweep and pull/hook. What make them so difficult for me?! Well, sweep, for one, I have hardly played. I always had this fear of going out of shape, not being able to look at the bowl and hence getting hit on my body and I never had enough confidence on my skill to solely rely on my “hand eye coordination ” to premeditate a sweep shot, as most of the sweep shots are premeditated. So, sweep never became the part of my arsenal.
With pull, it’s different. There are two ways, how one could become a good batter of short pitch bowling, by short pitch bowling, I mean, the bowls chasing your nose. So, the cut shot goes out of equation and upper cut is still too fancy a shot to rely upon. So, the twos are –
First – pick the length and keep ducking the bouncers, e.g. : Murali Vijay.
Second – pick the length and play proper pulls/hooks, e.g. : Brian Lara.
Now, having played in 10 over contests, for most part of my school days, leaving the ball alone, was never an option. So, I didn’t have the luxury of ducking a short bowl. And that made me a compulsive puller.
For someone like me who always was thin, growing up and didn’t have enough power in the bottom hand, power hitting never came easy. Slogging was never an option for me, finding the gaps and running fast was all I could manage. But, 10 over matches doesn’t need anchors, one needs to keep clearing the fences. That’s where pull shot became my best friend. One shot which requires least power to hit sixes is pull, the trajectory and pace of the bowler, helps the cause. Even, top edges fly all the way. That’s the beauty of it. So, I used to wait for bouncers, to release the pressure of strike rate. But, still I could hardy execute it perfectly. On numerous occasions, I would get deceived, top edge it or miss it completely. So, my search for understanding the art of pull shots, kept growing and in process, I learned to respect those who could play them with artistry. The list includes Ricky Ponting, Kevin Pietersen, Viv Richards, Brian Lara etc etc. But, the one who has impressed and inspired me the most is Rohit Gurunath Sharma.
There is something very fascinating about pull shots. A well-directed bouncer is probably the most dangerous asset that a fast bowler has and if one could stand tall and hit that out of the park, that doesn’t only destroys the ego of the bowler, but the whole opposition. And, Rohit Sharma has been doing it for over a decade, now. He is easily the best puller of this generation. His ability to pick lengths and dispatch them with meat of his bat, is out of this world. From waist height bumpers to shoulder height shorts bowls, from 120 clicks to 150 km/h deliveries coming his way and from outside the leg stump to outside the off stump, bouncers, he can whack them all, all over the leg side, ranging from long-on to behind the wicket. The range is insane and so is the man.
From the various armour of pull shots that Rohit has, I have categorised them into three –
1. The old school back-foot hook, or in this case, pull.
It’s the copybook way of playing a hook shot. Read the length, if it’s short, go deep inside the crease. Transfer the weight on your back leg and shoulder. Swing your top hand, around 30° to your leg side and hit the bowl, across it’s line and try & keep it down by closing the face of the bat. The idea here is to give yourself just that little bit of extra time by letting the bowl come to you (to get into perfect posture), use the bowlers pace and target the shortest boundaries on play.
Rohit does it immensely well but instead of closing the face, he rather opens it.
Ricky Ponting, hands down has the best backfoot pulls, ever.
2. The audacious front-foot pull.
“Why would even play it from front foot?”
A coach would tell/ask you in the beginning of your cricket schooling.
Well, they are right. It’s as good or bad as playing against the spin, on a turning track. When it comes out good, it looks majestic, but, when it doesn’t, which is the case, more often than not, it looks stupid.
But, then, it’s an ever evolving/changing game. Who cares about the traditional shot makings.
Over the years, we have had some great players, defying the physics and successfully playing the front-foot pulls. Staring from Viv to Pietersen. Kohli in Australia (2014) put an absolute masterclass as how to play this shot.
From that six against SA in t20wc 2007 to his latest in this IPL, Rohit has always been defying that science. The sheer audacity to hit someone like Starc, flat batted over mid-on from front-foot on a regular basis. And the cleverness to wait for a slower bowl from Stoinis and still whack it from front-foot via straight up top hands and sheer power for a six over mid-wicket. Rohit has it all.
3. The Rohit Sharma pull shot.
The last and best of the lot.
You are in the middle of nowhere, neither fully back, nor at front and at a point of no return. The bowl is short and directed at your head. You can’t help but play a shot. It will either take your outside edge, go and hit your body or will go past you. The batters find themselves in this position when they have either misjudged the length, not fully committed to the shot, get deceived or are in two minds. Nobody would want to be in that position, it’s a nightmare.
But, with Rohit, it’s his bread and butter. It’s his trademark shot. Yes.
Kohli : “never seen anyone time the bowl better than him”
GK : “uske paas ek sec jyada hai” (He has one sec extra)
Kohli : “ek nhi sir, dedh!” (Not one, 1.5)
That 1.5 extra sec is the key to that shot. To be able to adjust, just at the last moment, it’s unbelievable how he maintains his shape while playing that shot. It is somewhat similar to a short arm jab, but instead of using his ribs and arms, he uses his top & back shoulders. Unbelievable shot. Happy birthday, captain. Here’s to many more pull shots.
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