Signature Shots of Cricket Legends: Getting the opportunity to play for the country is the greatest thing in the life of an athlete, as they are the best in the country, which is why they are a part of it. After that opportunity, there are only a few athletes who become the best of the best in the world.
Hence, they are titled as a ‘legend’ and legends always leave a mark on the field in their beautiful way. In cricket, we would say that the Legends here had their own unique signature shot, in which they were the best in the world. Let’s discuss those shots from the greatest of all time.
List of signature shots by the Cricket Legends
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Drives
Sachin Tendulkar ( Straight Drive )
The ‘God of Cricket’, Sachin Tendulkar, is arguably the best batsman to ever exist in cricket history. He already had all the shots of the books in his batting style, but there was one that left a mark on the cricket field. ‘Straight Drive’, the stance he held and played the drive was so perfect that if someone had measured the angle of the ball and his body, it would have perfectly portrayed an example of ‘Pythagoras theorem’.
Virat Kohli ( Cover Drive )
The ‘King’ of cricket, who carried the legacy of the great Sachin Tendulkar and broke most of his records. Being the most successful batsman in the world, Kohli playing a cover drive seems like poetry in motion. From his stance, bodyweight, bat swing, and head position, it is a near-perfect position with all the alignments placed extremely accurately.
Brian Lara ( Square Drive )
The batsman to hold the record of scoring 400 in a test match, one of the best test cricket batsmen in the world. His elegant square drives were far beyond any opposition’s plan or strategy. He played that shot fearlessly and placed the ball in a way where the opposition failed to choke him on that line and length of pitching the ball.
Cut Shot
Virender Sehwag ( Upper Cut Shot )
The destroyer in his era changed the approach of playing grounded and safely in the initial overs of the inning. Smashed bowlers like Brett Lee, Lasith Malinga, and Shoaib Akhtar fearlessly.
Bowlers tried to swing away from batters to give an edge to the slip and take the wicket, but Sehwag did not care about any strategy or plan of attack. His plan was only “Attack”, from the first ball itself. He played those pacers outswinging deliveries so effortlessly on backfoot for a cut shot to chase it down till the boundary. He used their own pace to punish them with some runs and demolish their strategies.
Mahela Jayawardene ( Late Cut )
The Sri Lankan former captain who always came to the pitch with an appetite for runs. The art of playing the Late Cut was defined with utter ease by this batsman. Experts used to say that he always had that extra millisecond to watch and hit the ball.
Scoops
Tillakaratne Dilshan ( DilScoop )
An opener batsman from Sri Lanka, who has around 20 records in world cricket across all formats. He was a beautiful batsman who liked to play shots with timing and sweetness. That’s where he developed a skill for playing a scoop behind the wicket keeper’s head, where usually there is no fielder present, and the ball travels effortlessly to the boundary as the pace of the ball is used for getting a boundary or even a maximum.
Brendon Mccullum ( Mccscoop )
The aggressive batsman from New Zealand who made a record in the opening match of IPL for his team, scoring a gigantic score of 158*. He made his innovative shot, which was named ‘Mcscoop’ by the commentators at that time, and not just with a straight bat, he smashed boundaries behind the pitch as well with this shot.
Ab de Viliers ( Scoop Shot )
Famously known as the Mr 360*, this South African beast used to paint the wagon wheel in all directions of the cricket field. He often used to play scoop shots behind the fine leg and got so many runs as a present.
Douglas Marillier ( Ramp Shot )
A gutsy and innovative lower-order batsman from Zimbabwe, who created his style of hitting a scoop with no look sometimes. He made that shot so famous that the cricket experts named it “The Marillier Shot”.
Surya Kumar Yadav ( Supla Shot )
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The very famous current playing batsman of Team India, known as ‘SKY’, with no limits. He also followed the footsteps of AB de Villiers and painted the wagon wheel from all directions with runs. He is famously known for scoring runs at the fine leg, even when the ball is pitched outside the off stump.
Rashid Khan ( Snake Shot )
A famous leg spinner from Afghanistan, who led the Afghanistan cricket team in the T20 World Cup. He usually comes during the death overs to bat and is often seen playing a shot mix of scoop and flick. It is named as snake shot, & he has successfully executed it various times.
Reverse Switch Hit
Kevin Peterson ( Reverse Switch Hit )
He was probably the first batsman to master the reverse switch hit shot and play it consecutively, along with getting the results. In his era, even hitting a six with a straight bat was considered a big thing, but he hit a maximum with a reverse switch, which is still now the most difficult stance to hold and hit the ball. His hand-eye coordination was so well rehearsed that even a shot like a switch hit was a cakewalk for him.
Glenn Maxwell ( Reverse Switch Hit )
Famously known for playing an innings of 200* against Afghanistan in the ODI World Cup 2023, and single-handedly snatching the win from the opposition. He is arguably the best batsman in the world to play a perfect reverse switch hit in cricket. Hestill plays for Australia and would be seen more often playing this shot in his upcoming matches.
Pull/Hook Shot
Ricky Ponting ( Pull Shot )
He is considered the ‘Villain’ of cricket, as the day he entered and put himself in the shoes of the captain, his team dominated. The great Australian captain had a very strong mindset, and from 1999 to 2007, the Australian team won all the titles under his captaincy. In the early 2000s, the restrictions on bouncers were not implied the same as they are now abided by the players.
He practiced to deliver the high-paced short-pitch deliveries to the stands. His backfoot game was so strong that he always had time to identify the pitching and line of the ball and play the pull shot on backfoot alone.
Rohit Sharma ( Pull Shot )
The current captain of the World Champion Team India in the T20 World Cup. Popularly known as the Hitman of cricket, experts comment that he has that extra millisecond or time to play the ball and hit effortlessly huge maximums.
He has the ability to play a Pull Shot on the front foot, which gives him an upper hand to hit against the short pitch deliveries. No matter what the speed of the ball is, he likes to play it fast.
Rahul Dravid ( Hook Shot )
Former coach and player of the Indian Cricket Team, famously known as the Wall of Cricket. He was probably the top choice for any team in the world to send in the upper order for batting in Test cricket or ODI. He believed in playing grounded shots and was perfect at playing the hook shot towards the square leg for scoring runs.
Vivian Richards ( Hook Shot )
The former cricketer of the West Indies, who used to torture and punish the bowlers of his era. He was the most brutal batsman of his time. There were no restrictions on bouncers back then in the 80s.
This man used to play fast pacers without a helmet and answered their short pitch deliveries with a hook shot. He was always a tough nut to crack for the opposition as he single-handedly led his team to win and dominate the opposition’s bowling attacks.
Flick Shot
Vvs Laxman ( Flick Shot )
The former Indian Batsman, who defined the word beautiful batting. He used to punish the bowlers with just a flick of a wrist to cope up with the pace of bowlers, instead using it to score boundaries in the mid-wicket region.
Kl Rahul ( Rahul’s Flick )
KL Rahul is the most versatile batsman in the world who plays for the Indian Cricket Team. He can bat at any down and never make an excuse regarding the changes or the pitch. He has his own way to play the flick shot with no look, although he is a great classy batsman, but this one shot is so natural to him that he plays it with ease and is not present in any books.
Sweep
Mathew Hayden ( Sweep Shot )
Famous Australian batsman, known for his hunger to score runs in each innings, and tough to make a mistake. He mastered the art of playing sweep shots as western batsmen were not able to play the spin from the asian players. He identified the weak link and transformed it into his strength.
Andre Russell ( Slog Sweep )
An all-rounder batsman from the West Indies, known as ‘Russell Muscle’, hits the ball so hard that he often hits it out of the park. His strength and powerful batting style enable him to be a hard-hitter and slog sweep almost every ball he gets in his arc.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni ( Helicopter Shot )
One of the most successful captains of the cricket world with three ICC trophies, popularly known as ‘Thala”. He led Team India for a decade and did so much for the country. He played a strong, hard shot from his bat on the fuller or yorker balls.
He faced problems with playing yorker deliveries by the pacers, but one day a friend of his played this shot in front of him, and he learned it from there. The rest is history; he is probably known as the greatest finisher in cricket history.
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