Cricket may quickly transform from a gentleman’s game to the most amusing sport you’ll ever watch. This amusing part of cricket may even come from the game’s most brilliant minds, who have ventured to go outside the box and make some superb cricketing strokes.
We will take a look at 5 of cricket’s weirdest shots ever discovered and the players who were pulling the strings for the same.
Former Indian skipper Dhoni is famous for his Helicopter shot. The most toughest ball to hit for a sixer is undoubtedly a full pitched toe crusher but MSD made that possible. It was the death overs of the match and as expected, James Anderson bowled a yorker to Dhoni and the next thing that happened is termed as The Helicopter Shot. Dhoni just revolved his back hand like the blades of a helicopter and smoked Anderson out of the park over long on. He just used his wrist to flick the ball towards mid-wicket region and a helicopter shot is always meant to be dead straight over the bowler’s head.
2. Dilscoop – Tilakratne Dilshan
Sri Lankan dashing hitter Dilshan invented one of a kind of a shot which is famously known as Dilscoop. This shot involves using the bat as a ramp to flick the ball backwards over the batman’s shoulder in the fine leg region. It is indeed a very risky and unorthodox shot but if successfully connected, can result in devastating the opposition’s mindset and field placings. He also used this weapon efficiently and effectively in the IPL which earned his shot the nickname of Dilscoop.
3. The Switch Hit – Kevin Pietersen
Switch hit shot is a very famous shot invented by English player, Kevin Pietersen. He is a right-handed batsman but when he plays the shot, he quickly switches his playing hand to the left and smashes the ball for a six. Kevin Pietersen executed this shot for the first time in a match against New Zealand. To switch hit a batsman needs to change from right-handed to left-handed or vice-versa before the bowler delivers. This shot generated a few allegations that Switch-hit is unfair on the opposition bowler and the captain as the field is set on the initial batting stance of the batsman. KP has managed to master this shot over the time and play it to good extent in the IPL also.
4. The Upper Cut – Sachin Tendulkar
When you hear the name of the “God of Cricket” it’s a tad surprising to watch him playing a shot which is not one of his forte. But he does have a number of shots which leave the opponent bowlers jarred. One of them is “The Upper Cut”. Upper Cut is a shot which is adapted by the batsmen to tackle the bouncers at speedy wickets. Tendulkar showcased this shot against Shoaib Akhtar in WC 2003 and Brett Lee in the Tour Down-Under 2003-04.
5. The Marillier Shot – Douglas Marillier
Douglas Marillier of Zimbabwe used this shot to devastating effect against the leading bowlers of the adversaries. The batsmen who could have this shot in his arsenal could really cheek in valuable runs in the death overs. The batsman angles the bat in a manner which makes the ball fly over the shoulders. After he took the bowlers like Glenn Mcgrath and Zaheer Khan on in the slog overs, the state of the bowlers was termed to be “Marilliered” . This shot is more renowned today as the “Dilscoop” as an exclusive of the Sri Lanakan batsman T. M. Dilshan.
Also Read: Who Is The Worst Test Batsman of All-Time? (cricfiles.com)
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