They look outrageously ugly to the naked eyes and aren’t considered as copy-book cricket. At times the shots come off and on numerous times they don’t. They aren’t classified as calculated strokes either.
The above preamble is nothing but a minor, yet descriptive depiction of the pre-meditated strokes manufactured by batsmen.
A batsman’s mind is pre-occupied with the shots to be played irrespective of the merit of the delivery. The shots either look ambitious when successfully executed or batsmen make a meal of the delivery to dig a hole for themselves.
As we move along, we take an insight into the reasons for engineering such strokes.
#1 When piercing the gaps becomes difficult
More than pre-meditated strokes, they can be categorised into forced shots. It’s attempted at a time when batsmen find no other option to thread the gaps. It’s a release stroke to break the shackles of a barrage of low scoring or dot deliveries.
A batsman prefers the off-side for gathering runs and the opposition captain packs the region from mid-off to point with four fielders. He also positions an additional fielder at deep extra-cover to prevent the boundary.
The batsman strains every muscle to get the ball past the fielders inside the 30-yard circle and even if he gets it past the fielder, the boundary is cut off by the sweeper in the deep. This is where pre-meditated shots come in.
The batsman, as a result, decides to hammer the ball on the leg side irrespective of the nature of the delivery.
#2 Need for instant boundaries
The slog overs, especially the last five overs in a limited overs contest, are meant for peppering the boundary ropes and also for finding the stands at regular intervals. While length balls become a curse, the good length doesn’t remain a ‘good’ length anymore.
Batsmen look to open their shoulders up and dismiss everything out of sight. Pre-meditated strokes are common at the dying stages of an innings. Batsmen generally look to slog in the death overs and everyone has a zone of their own. Some prefer the deep mid-wicket region, prevalently known as the cow-corner, and some fancy the V behind the wicket.
Playing pre-meditated strokes means that the chances of giving away your wicket rise alarmingly and it’s the very reason why teams tend to lose wickets in the end overs of T20’s and one-day cricket.
#3 Medium of infusing impetus to an innings
When a team strides onto the cricket field in a limited overs match after setting the opposition a target, they either feel assured about the total or there is a sense of disappointment on their faces after achieving a below par score.
It’s the impetus to an innings, which turns out to be instrumental in constructing a competitive score. Pre-meditated strokes, at times, creates the difference between a win and a loss. Batsmen generally play such strokes when the power-plays are on and minimum fielders are outside the 30-yard circle.
The shots, though filled with danger, are somewhat sensible when the chances of getting out are minimum. With a spread-out field, they aren’t high percentage strokes as batsmen can hold out to the fielders patrolling the boundary.
T20 cricket, through partially requires merit, is a game of pre-meditation, especially for batsmen. Scores of 200 requires the mind to be trained that way. One simply can’t afford to drive good-length deliveries on off-stump through the cover region on a regular basis.
One of the prime-examples of pre-mediated strokes come from the likes of A.B de Villiers. He can pull a good-length delivery on middle-stump over mid-wicket and hit the same delivery over the cover region. It requires incredible hand-eye coordination to contrive these shots.
#4 A pressure-release stroke
In limited overs cricket, it’s good to respect disciplined bowling, provided they don’t turn detrimental to the batting team’s progress.
Pre-meditated strokes present a fascinating mind-games between the bowlers and batsmen. Batsmen attempt to throw the bowlers off their radar through such strokes. It’s a moral victory on the part of the bowler, but a few more of those can make the bowler think a little more.
At times, too much pressure can dismantle your thought process. It transpires in a do-or-die situation when batsmen can’t figure out the bowler’s strategy. That’s when they pre-meditate and bring their most trusted shot to the fore.
Two examples in the last nine years come to mind. The first one is of Misbah-ul-Haq’s attempted scoop in the final over of the 2007 World T20, which will haunt him till his last breath.
It was a shot that worked for Misbah during his tape-ball cricket days. He admitted it to be his go-to shot in order to get out of jail.
The second example goes back to August 2016, when M.S Dhoni mistimed a helicopter shot straight into the hands of short-third man. Dhoni admitted to the fact that the pre-meditation was correct, but again what went wrong is the execution.
#5 Sledging/Provocation
Sledging may turn out to be useful if done to some batsman. It may turn out to be worth regretting, if the fielding team has to pay for it. It switches on the pre-meditation mode of the batsman. For fielding teams, it’s either fruitful or self-destructive.
Yuvraj Singh, in 2007, pre-meditated to go all guns blazing after an ugly spat with Andrew Flintoff. Stuart Broad was the man to take the beating, when Yuvraj carted him for six sixes in an over.
Yuvraj got fired up by the comments hurled at him by Flintoff and took Broad to the cleaners
The second example is a tale of an Indian batsman crawling into the circle of cricket and a Pakistani seasoned leg-spinner. The batsman is none other than Sachin Tendulkar with Abdul Qadir being the bowler.
The 16-year-old Tendulkar was sledged by Qadir, only to go for 22 runs in one over (6,0,4,6,6,6). It was Qadir’s strategy to get under the skin of Sachin that backfired on him viciously.
Both are prime illustrations of how provocation turns out to be the spark that a batsman needs to activate the pre-meditation mode.
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