Evolution Of Cricket Shots After Introduction Of T20 Format

Real cricket has been looked at and enjoyed for the Test format by enthusiasts. After the introduction of the T20 format, the evolution of cricket shots has been magnificent. Due to advancements in cricket rules, formats, and nature, players were forced to add new weapons to their armory, be it bowling or batting. Now, there are even shorter formats present as well, where 10-over and 6-over matches are also held.

Evolution of Cricket Shots in batting 

Ramp Shot (AKA Scoop Shot) – This shot is commonly used by the finishers in T20 format. Recently, in the IPL 202,5, many batsmen were spotted playing this shot, such as Jos Buttler, Jitesh Sharma, and Suryakumar Yadav.

This shot was prominently made famous by Dilshan, who was a famous right-handed batsman of Sri Lanka. His shot was named Dilashan scoop as he was the one who perfected this skill at the time when ODIs were played prominently in the international format.

It is usually played at the fine-leg region, where fielders are usually not placed and the batsman capitalizes on their favor, as even if the ball doesn’t middle the bat, the ball can reach the boundary.

But this shot is highly risky, which was evident in the first-ever T20 World Cup as well, where IND vs PAK thriller was witnessed and Pakistan was on the verge of victory, where Misbah played a scoop over fine leg and Sreeshant took the catch which resulted in India lifting the first ever T20 World Cup.

Supla Shot– This shot was prominently played by Suryakumar Yadav across the countries in the T20 format. He usually keeps his bodyweight at the centre with a wide batting stance and high backlift, ready to use the pace of the bowler against them.

This technique aids him in hitting such shots that seem impossible to hit. He does that regularly in all the matches, and still, opponents can never stop him from using it against them.

Australia were fabulous with their plan against him in the ODI World Cup 2023 when they bowled continuous short-pitch deliveries with cutters on the pitch, and Surya was not able to use the pace of the ball on a pitch which was already slow.

Reverse sweep – This shot has been evident so much across all formats after the SENA countries were unable to cope with the spin-friendly conditions. The athletes from SENA Countries are usually instructed to play sweep and reverse sweep shots to tackle spin in asian countries where spinners rule and dominate.

Does not matter which format, prominently, athletes are sighted using this shot to attack spinners before the ball changes its trajectory after pitching. This shot is highly risky as it is played with a cross bat, which can also be mistimed and could result in being caught out or LBW if in front of the wicket.

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